Blogs from the Celebrity SolsticeWe are doing these daily blogs to provide everyone with our impressions of the ship we’ll be using for our January 2010 JazzSea cruise. Actually, we are aboard the Solstice. Our ship, Equinox, won’t sail its inaugural cruise until August. Still, it will be identical to this one and so we have decided to take the Solstice out for a weeklong cruise to the Caribbean. We hope to give all of you a “heads-up” on what you’re likely to expect on our January cruise. If you haven't been following along, read from the bottom up to start at the beginning. Carol's and Bob's blogs start below. Click here to skip down to Joanne's blog at the bottom of Bob's column. |
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Carol's blog: Saturday, March 28
Here I am, sitting on the bed, leaned back against the big pillows, watching the ocean waves. Notice that I am also on the laptop computer and in a few minutes will be able to upload this blog to our website. It’s great to have full wi-fi access here in the stateroom.
Our cruise is about to come to an end and we have mixed emotions about leaving. We’re looking forward to sharing our experience with all of you when you call to make your reservations, but are sad to leave this fabulous ship. We’ve just had the best time. The highlight for me has been the Corning Hot Glass Show. I’ve only missed one of their shows and hope to find a studio close to home that offers lessons and training. Who would ever think that you would be able to watch such amazing artists blow glass on a moving cruise ship. I hope you will all take advantage of this free onboard experience aboard Equinox.
Bob and I had lunch at Bistro on Five today. This restaurant is open from 6 AM until Midnight every day. Soup, salad, sandwiches, egg dishes and dessert. The atmosphere is relaxed and the experience is easy and relaxing. There is a $5 cover charge per person. The food and service is worth the extra charge. We almost went there for dinner last night but we didn’t want to miss the formal dinner in the Grand Epernay Dining Room. Lobster. Yum. Yum. Can you imagine a dining room themed around the most famous French Champagne Region? It’s a beautiful two story room that sparkles like champagne bubbles.
All in all we have eaten in all but two of the possible restaurants aboard ship. We did not eat in Blu (the dining room for Aqua Class passengers, or Silk Harvest offering Asian Cuisine. We ate our dinners in The Grand Epernay Dining Room and had one dinner in Tuscan Grille. Our lunches were at the Oceanview Café except for one lunch at Murano. Murano is a specialty restaurant that features French Cuisine. Most of our breakfasts were ordered from our room service menu. One morning we went to the dining room for a brunch and another morning we went to the Oceanview Café for Eggs Benedict.
The Oceanview Café is open 24 hours a day offering Coffee, tea and juice. Early Risers Breakfast starts at 6:30 AM and the following are available through out the day ending at 1:00 AM. (Early Risers Breakfast, Breakfast Buffet, Late Breakfast, Lunch Buffet, Ice Cream, Pizza and Pasta, Afternoon Tea Time, Sushi Selection, Oceanview Dining and Late Night Snacks. Dinner is served between 6:00 PM and 9:30 PM for those who do not wish to eat in the main dining room. There is also a Gelateria on deck 5 offering Italian Gelato between 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM.
We will soon be packing and before we know it we will be in Tuscan Grill for our disembarkation at 8:30 AM. We understand that a continental breakfast will be available for us there as there is not room service delivery on disembarkation day.
I suspect that both Bob and I will add a few details to the blog after we arrived home. We’ll also begin to update information based on questions from our guests about our JazzSea Cruise. Prepare yourselves. You’ll be impressed!
We had coffee in our stateroom and watched the Celebrity Solstice pull into St. Maarten. We have a brilliant view of the bay. A few clouds, maybe rain later in the day. Now, though it is warm and sunny. We went to the lido area for real breakfast and had so many food choices that it took us a while to decide. Yummy.
Later we met our tour group (seven of us) at the Hot Glass Show (deck 15) for our orientation. Each of us helped in the blowing of a glass ornament. Some of us did ornaments and some did desk pieces. Our ornament has a place for the hook and a round bottom, the other had a sealed top and a flat bottom. We’ll know tomorrow how our colors turned out. We could pick up to three colors. We’ll take pictures tomorrow when we receive them. Part of the shore excursion also includes lunch with wine in Murano. Murano is one of the alternative restaurants with a French theme. Our glass blowing class and our two instructors will be there. Should be great fun.
Yesterday we asked the onboard cruise consultant which staterooms and decks were the most popular. She told us that Resort Deck (deck 12) was by far the most popular saying that the staterooms on Resort Deck were the first to sell out after the Penthouse Suites. We have space available on Resort Deck in category C1, Category S2 and Category S1. Take it from me, there is no noise or problem being close to the elevators or the doors leading to the pool area.
The next most popular staterooms are those that are “on the hump”. We have C1 and 1A available on several decks. The staterooms near the atrium elevators (more aft) are in great demand as the atrium elevators take you up to the Lawn Club on Deck 15 and down as far as Deck 3 for the dining room. Many interesting stops along the way, including shops, Fortunes Casino, The Martini Bar, Cellar Masters and Guest relations and Shore excursions. These elevators also go down to decks 1 and 2 for the gangway and for tender service if it is needed.
We are on deck 9 in stateroom 9243 and we love the convenient location.
Passengers that we have spoken with that have inside staterooms were in category 9 and 10. Both couples had staterooms close to the atrium elevators and loved their locations.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 We had dinner last night at the Tuscan Grille. This specialty restaurant features an Italian menu. Cover charge is $20 per person and advance reservations are required.
Our service and food were exceptional. This experience was night and day different from our experiences with the Holland America Pinnacle Grill. My appetizer was tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Next I ordered the Italian onion soup. Three cheeses topped the garlic croutons on top of the onion and leek soup. Parmesan, provolone and mozzarella. I loved both my appetizer and soup, finishing them both and knowing full well that I would not be able to eat much more. My main course was veal Parmesan over angel hair pasta and I have to admit that I only ate half of the veal and only a few twirls of the pasta. I was too stuffed to eat more. If I were at home, I would have asked for a take out bag. There was enough left on my plate for a full dinner. This is definitely a restaurant where you want to arrive hungry.
Bill and Joanne both had filet mignon and Bob had a rib eye steak. They raved about the meat, saying that all were cooked to perfection (medium rare).
Speaking of food. Our room service breakfasts have been excellent. They arrive on time (usually about 5 minutes early) and are warm and accurate. We always have a couple of singles to give to the person who delivers our order.
Tonight we are going to meet for before dinner drinks at the Martini Bar. We have watched the show that the bar tenders do with each martini. It is quite entertaining and everyone in the room was laughing and having a good time.
Tomorrow we will be in St. Maartin. Bob and I have a unique shore excursion planned. We won’t even leave the ship to participate. As I’ve mentioned before, I have been absolutely enthralled by the Hot Glass shows. Tomorrow both Bob and I are part of a group of twelve that will have the opportunity (under strict supervision I am sure) to blow glass. I’m so excited that I can hardly stand it. I’ll write about it tomorrow afternoon.
I will also write about stateroom location aboard ship and the tips that I learned today from the onboard Cruise Consultant. Her name is Melanie and she is just darling.
Tuesday, March 24 Sitting in bed, enjoying room service coffee and watching the waves of the ocean through the floor to ceiling glass doors of our veranda. The bed, by the way, is very comfortable. Crisp but soft linens and a light duvet.
This stateroom is very similar to the mini suite verandas on Holland America Line. There are several differences, though. The bed (or beds, should you wish the beds separated) is next to the sliding door to the veranda. The mattress and box springs are rounded with soft corners and it seems as though there is more room between the end of the bed and the wall. The center of the room has a vanity, with mirror and straight chair, a fridge with goodies for sale inside and small opening to hold the keyboard for the computer set up and five drawers for personal belongings.
At first I was concerned that there was not enough room for storing our belongings. However, Bob opened the two large doors over our bed and found a place for his clothes. I have three of the drawers in the center console and Bob has two. Plenty of room in the closet for both of our hanging clothes.
The bathroom is also on the cozy side. Again, though, there is a place for everything. There are several shelves that we are not using. The shower is enclosed by glass clam shell doors. There is ample space for soap, shampoo, conditioner etc. inside the glassed in area. No tub. Soap, shampoo and conditioner are provided as are q-tips and cotton balls.
We are also not using the drawer in front of the vanity mirror. I may put make up in the drawer later today as it would be more convenient that keeping it in the bathroom. The vanity light is good but there is no make up mirror like the ones on Holland America Line. Celebrity provides a hair dryer, which is stored in the vanity drawer.
The only electrical outlets are at the vanity. Bob always brings a multi plug cube to provide additional outlets. We can charge our cameras, cell phones and our lap top at the same time. You might consider bringing a small extension cord.
There is a 40” wide flat screen plasma TV. We watched a little ESPN last night before dinner.
Tonight we have dinner in the Tuscan Grill, one of the alternative dining rooms. We made reservation on the internet shortly after we booked our stateroom. Cost for Tuscan Grill is $20 per person. We expect to have a wonderful dinner as the food and service has been exceptional
Monday, March 23 We arrived at Port Everglades around 11:30 yesterday. Bob dropped us off at the embarkation area and went to park the car. He was back with us in less than ten minutes as the parking lot is right next door to where Celebrity Solstice was berthed. Together, the four of us (Bob and me and Bill and Joanne Weld) headed inside the embarkation area.
We were directed to a long line of other passengers. The line moved quickly and within ten minutes we were placing our hand luggage on the security screening belt which fed them through for examination. From there we went to a small seating area and we sat for maybe five minutes before we were asked to rise and follow a uniformed Celebrity staff member.
Next we went into the actual check in area. We were directed to a line for Concierge Class guests and Bill and Joanne were directed to another line for passengers with staterooms on deck six. We suspected that we would be finished well before them. However, we finished just two minutes before they did and we were able to meet and have our embarkation picture taken together. From the check in area we took an escalator up one floor.
It took exactly one hour from the time we entered the embarkation area until we were seated in the Café al Bacio (deck 5 midships) toasting each other with our complimentary glass of champagne. At 1:00 PM the announcement was heard that all staterooms were ready for occupancy. We went to our staterooms, dropped our hand luggage and headed up to deck 15 to meet at the Sunset Bar.
Embarkation was very easy. Concierge Class and Aqua Class had lines on the far right of the massive embarkation room. Suite passengers walked by everyone on the right and checked in.
I’m writing this from our stateroom. Breakfast has just been delivered. I will check later today but I believe that Concierge Class has an expanded room service menu. Bill and Joanne are in a 2C, veranda stateroom and I will ask them their room service menu.
Our omelets were cooked to order. Bob had ham and cheese and I had cheese with diced tomato. Coffee was good. Bob also ordered a berry smoothie.
We are off for a stroll around the deck and then to the first of the glass blowing demonstrations at 10:00 AM.
Next I will discuss the stateroom in detail and also talk about the food (which was delicious) and service (outstanding).
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Bob's blog: Bob’s Final Blog. Here are some additional thoughts, in no particular order, on this cruise. Although I realize there are still a few smokers among us, we found out that Celebrity ships have reduced the number of smoking venues aboard ship. No smoking is allowed in staterooms or private verandahs. In addition, smoking is only allowed out on deck in certain limited areas (on Deck 5 port side, at the outside pool area next to the pool bar, on Deck 14 near the Mast Bar). The ship provides ash trays where smoking is allowed. In addition, the only indoor venue where it is permitted is in a designated area of the Sky Lounge (which will be one of our music venues). To relate to the venues where we will have our music, here’s an easy comparison. Our main music venue will be The Sky Lounge. Compare it with The Crow’s Nest (but 3 times as large, with ample seating and a huge dance floor in front of the bandstand. Our evening concerts, featuring one of our bands, etc. will be held after dinner in Celebrity Central (a theatre seating venue). Compare it to the Wajang Theatre, but with stage and sound/ lighting booth. (Celebrity uses this venue for late night comedy and to showcase certain club acts.) We also expect to use it for Tex Wyndham’s afternoon sessions. Our Banjos Aweigh sessions with Tim Allan as well as Dick Williams’ JazzSea Jam will be held in the Conference Center, next to the Sky Lounge. The JazzSea Workshops-at-Sea will be there as well. It is a state-of-the-art conference center that is divided into 2 rooms, one holding about 75 people and the other about 125. Compare The Conference Center with the Hudson/Half Moon Rooms. Although there may be a possibility of music outdoors, I found that it probably wouldn’t work for us. Since we are at sea in the evening, and there is no roof over the pool and stage area, it gets pretty windy out there. Not many places to sit where it wouldn’t be breezy. And the bandstand is open to the elements, too! Perhaps an afternoon thing might be possible, though. Final day details and disembarkation was easy. You departed by an assigned number (based on your post-cruise needs, air schedule, etc) and were directed to the luggage claim area. Easily located our luggage (sorted by that assigned number you followed to disembark). Since we parked in the lot next to Pier 18 (Celebrity’s Pier), we only had to walk ½ block to the car. Or, in our case, I went and got the car and pulled up the the terminal to load up our stuff. It was less than ½ hour from the time we departed the ship ‘til we were in the car and on our way! That’s it for now. Saturday, March 29, 2009 We signed up early in the cruise for the opportunity to blow a glass ornament. On Thursday we went to the Hot Glass Studio on Deck 15 and were joined by 5 other people for the experience. Our professional gaffers were from Corning Glass Works in upstate New York. They have been doing the glass blowing shows aboard the Solstice this week. There will be a glass blowing show aboard all Solstice Class ships, of which our ship, the Equinox is one. They will assemble and fit the glass ovens aboard the ship at the shipyards in Germany and it will be operational by July of this year. So we were able to choose the colors of the raw glass pieces and then, with the expert help of the gaffers, we blew out the bulb shape that was to become our ornaments. It was spun and twisted into the globe shape and a hanging attachment was added. Then they put it away in the annealing oven to cool very slowly so as not to shatter. Today, it was delivered to our stateroom and we now have beautiful new ornaments for the tree. In fact I think we’ll display them year round! We are so enthralled with the hot glass process that we both are thinking about going to glass blowing classes and attending elder hostels that cater to folks that are interested in doing hot glass. It’s time to think about packing up and heading home tomorrow so my final blog will probably be posted on Monday, the day after we get back. It’s been a great experience, being on this new ship and new cruiseline. I’m certainly not disappointed in any way and am looking forward to seeing many of you on the January 2010 JazzSea cruise on the Equinox. Thursday, March 26, 2009 Still further back are the salons for both men and women to be pampered by the ships staff. And further back still is the health club area with its many state-of-the-art treadmills and exercise equipment. Probably 15-20 treadmills and another 20 or so different kinds of equipment. And at the very back of the ship on this deck is a nice sunning area for taking a break from the exercises and such. All in all a great place to stay in shape, considering the great food that they keep putting in front of you! The actual pool area is amidships and consists of 2 pools and a couple of Jacuzzis. There are also many areas that are shaded and even a row of cabanas on either side of the pools. At one end is the Pool Bar and at the other is the bandstand. In front of the bandstand is an area that is a (I don’t quite know how to describe it) a floor with water jets that squirt out of it! A nice place to walk across and cool off! We are still amazed at every turn as we tour this ship in anticipation of our JazzSea cruise in January. The Equinox will be identical to this one, so I don’t think we’ll see any surprises when we board. “I can’t wait!” Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Our entire day on Tuesday was spent aboard the Solstice, exploring more of the ship. Although many folks went ashore in San Juan, there were quite a few who remained on board. I am still amazed that a ship this size can offer you an opportunity to relax quietly and privately. The Oceanview Café (their equivalent of the Lido Restaurant) is set up with a dozen or more “stations” instead of a long Cafeteria line. This allows folks to go to a particular station for one or two items and then move to another one for more. There are food stations that cover Mexican, Oriental, BBQ, Hot Dog and Burger, A meat carving station, Sandwich making station, Pasta, pizza, Cheese stations, Salad bar, a dessert station and ice cream station and I know I’m missing a half dozen others. This area is open for breakfast (from 7:00am) and lunch until 2:30 pm. And there’s an outside food station near the pool for hotdogs and tacos, etc that stays open until 6:00pm (Just in time for dinner!) The 4 specialty restaurants aboard the ship are the Murano (French), Silk Harvest (Pan Asian), Tuscan Grill (Italian) and Blu (The Specialty Restaurant for passengers booked into Aqua Class Staterooms. We dined in the Tuscan Grill and were very impressed with the service and quality of food (the wine wasn’t bad either……. we enjoyed a nice Brunello from Antinori.)
Tuesday, March 24 Our day began with breakfast in our stateroom. We then went to the Corning Glass Blowing exhibition on Deck 14 and were (no pun intended) blown away! Literally! It was a bit windy up there, but our hosts were equally spectacular. Three professional glass blowers from The Corning Museum & Glass Works entertained and enlightened us for 2 hours, playing with 2200º F molten glass like it was taffy, and demonstrating how to create beautiful and artful pieces of blown glass. In less than 2 hours they created vases, bowls, steins, in many colors and styles. They repeat this “show” a number of times during the week and we expect to attend again! Last night was formal night aboard the Solstice. Many were dressed “to the nines” formal dresses and cocktail dresses mixed with many tuxedos, dinner jackets and dark suits. We went to Cellar Masters for a formal tasting of French wines beforehand and were impressed. Our wine sommelier was very knowledgeable and poured 2 white French wines and 2 reds, complimented with a plate of cheeses and bread. A thoroughly delightful pre-dinner experience! Then we went to our table at 6:00 and had a great dinner (chateaubriand for us) and a nice wine which we brought aboard. Celebrity Cruises allows you to bring only 2 bottles of wine aboard their ships, so we opted to bring magnums (they didn’t say what size bottles, did they?). The evening dinner show was a Broadway review and was very well done. As was the case last night, it was only 45 minutes long and allowed folks to enjoy the evening activities aboard the ship. However, I suspect most of us will go from our dinner to either Celebrity Central for a concert featuring one of our jazz bands or up to the Sky Lounge for an evening of Dixieland jazz with it’s big dance floor. And we expect to also schedule our banjos and jammers in the conference center or outside (depending on the weather).
Sunday, March 22. Upon boarding the ship we were greeted with a flute of champagne as we waited for the okay to go to our cabins. How civilized! At 1:00 our cabins were ready to be occupied so we went there to offload our carry-ons and walk around the ship for a while. The Sunset Bar aft on deck 15 was the logical meeting place for “an adult beverage”. A huge list of domestic, imported and micro brews as well as tropical drinks are offered there. After a drink, we returned to our cabin to stretch out for a half hour. Then boat drill at 4:00. We went to our muster station in the Murano Restaurant for the drill. No standing outside! Again, how civilized!
Our pre-dinner meeting place was the Martini Bar, with its refrigerated bar surface. A thin film of frost covers the bar so your glass never gets warm as it sit on the frosty surface. The bartenders provided a spectacular show as they mixed and poured our 4 martinis (simultaneously)! You’ll have to see it to believe it!
Our dinner in the main dining room was exceptional as was the service!
The main show the first night was, basically, an introduction of the weeks performers. It was short (only 45 minutes) and allowed us to get to know the rest of the ship. I’m looking forward to the actual shows during the week. All in all the first day went smoothly. Considering the fact that there are upwards of 2700 people on this ship, there doesn’t seem to be too many areas where we encounter crowds. Only occasionally around the elevators and at the lunch areas.
Sunday, March 29, 2009 Well, here we are home already. The time went so fast and boy do I miss that beautiful 5 Star Solstice, my stateroom, the tastefully done restaurants and lounges and all the smiling faces of the staff and crew.
Boarding in Fort Lauderdale was so easy. Unlike Saturdays, on Sundays there are very few ships docked so no lines at the entry to the port. After unloading us, Bobby parked in a lot close to the ship. Celebrity had very organized personnel at check-in and everything was well marked. After you get your key card and pictures and as you enter the ship, you'll meet some of the entertainers and other staff welcoming you on board. We spoke with Sarah who we saw later in the evening as an acrobat in the opening show. It was nice to receive such a warm welcome and I loved the champagne! Everywhere you look, the ship is so beautiful.
Every day and night was a delight on the Solstice. You're going to love the food, the various dining and drinking areas. I can't wait for you to see the Atriums at both aft and forward. You can sit at the same level and enjoy the ship's entertainers or watch them from above or below in the spacious Grand Foyer as you pass by on your way to your favorite Jazzband. There was always something going on.
I could picture and almost hear Climax, Grand Dominion, Bob Schultz, the Jammers and Coast-to-Coast in the Sky Lounge. Tex and Tim's Banjos will love performing at Celebrity Central and Dick's Workshop-at-Sea will have lots of warm-up time in the spacious conference rooms.
The Galleria Boutiques and Shops on the Boulevard are wonderful. They have eighteen (18) shops well staffed with the friendliest sales people. I was lucky to meet Vivian who introduced me to my new Nikon Coolpix, 10mg, 3.6x, 3"LCD. I went back several=2 0times with questions and I'm getting pretty good with my first digital camera.
I’ll report more about the staff, the restaurants, the lounges, the pools and the solarium. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about my visit to the AquaSpa and yes, I was at the Medical Center.
Joanne Weld
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