Mike Jacoubowsky

First, it's not like I can really make comparisons because we've only sailed twice before, both on NCL. First time on a non-Haven ship (Jade), but in an Aft Penthouse Suite that had various perks.Greek Islands, 2021, one of the first post-pandemic cruises. Second was in The Haven on the Epic (Aft cabin again), Rome to Lisbon, just over a year ago.

This time it was the Celebrity Solstice, in The Retreat, Dec 10th-22nd, Hong Kong to Singapore with stops in Vietnam and Thailand. Aft Cabin. Like the Epic, the Aft cabins are far removed from the Haven or Retreat, but didn't really mind the walking. The Solstice doesn't have "Aft" elevators, just Forward and Middle, which seemed a bit odd. Not a problem, just felt like it took a while to get anywhere if it was on a different floor (and everything is on a different floor; we were on deck 7).

Embarkation was a mess. Total chaos. I'd read all these wonderful things about Celebrity embarkation, but guess they didn't have much in the way of their own supervisors organizing things. Anything. We asked if there was a line for The Retreat; they pointed us towards a different security line (with about same number of people in it). We asked after we cleared where we go next; he said just sit in the chairs over there and you'll be called. Um... no. No announcements, and the couple of smallish screens weren't saying anything useful and zero mention of The Retreat. But there are people being checked in, so I wandered up front and asked someone and they said sure, come on over, this is what you're supposed to do. OK... and they tell us to get in line with everyone else to board the ship. And everyone else was packed in like a bad jetway experience. After a few minutes of going nowhere, I asked someone else who looked maybe official if there was a Retreat line. They said no, just go to the front.

I spoke with others in the Retreat; they said it was the worst boarding they had ever seen. The good news? Everything got better from that point on!

The Butler- Lots of controversy about Celebrity doing away with personal butlers for all but the upper-level suites. Maybe the Solstice didn't get that memo? We got fantastic service from Dominic, whose card read "Head Butler." I was told the Celebrity has 62 cabins in The Retreat so a bit surprised to get so much attention. Then again, we don't even know what to ask a Butler for. We didn't have him set up anything special in our room and only ordered room-service once.

Food- I thought it was great. The Luminae restaurant staff went out of their way to make sure everything went well for us. It actually became a bit off-putting at one point because they were reading my wife's expressions... she's very open about anything that isn't quite exactly right for her, and even though I told her not to be quite so "expressive"... I'll give her some slack because she's having real issues eating enough lately, with an unexplained weight loss problem. But once staff understood that she really didn't want all that much food, they made plates with exactly the right amount, and they offered off-menu options without being asked. For me... main food was great, desserts a bit underwhelming if a chocolate fan, despite the new CEO saying they were going to "bring chocolate back!"

But the menu isn't terribly extensive at Luminae, so we did one night at the MDR, and while it wasn't exceptional, it was still very good, and the service very attentive. Tuscany specialty restaurant was just ok, chicken pretty dry. Murano... wow. Amazing place, wonderful wait staff, but for me, too fancy to do on a regular basis. I've got no issues adhering to the dress code, but it's closer to a suit-and-tie setting (although out of everyone dining there, might have been just one person dressed in suit and tie).

The buffet didn't impress us, and the hours it was open were an issue. There's no place on board in "off hours" to grab food on Solstice. We both found ourselves really missing NCL's O'Sheas for that.

The Mast Grill. You won't believe this, but the two times we had plain old hamburgers there, they were perfect. Exactly the right thing at the time. I've heard trash talk about the Mast Grill, don't know why.

Drinks. Well, we don't really, so no opinion. Did try a Mexican Hitman, and actually liked it. The sommelier stopped coming by after I asked for an Arnold Palmer two or three times in a row. :-)

Staff in general. Very pleasant everywhere we went. Room steward was great. More important, in general, than the Butler to us. Another nice thing- you could ask anybody anything and they'd help figure it out for you.

Condition of ship. Yes, it's older, but still pretty nicely kept up. Lots of complaints and videos about things, and if you look for spots in need of a bit of TLC, you'll find them. But much better shape, in my opinion, than the NCL Epic, and no place where things smelled funny. Truth be told, all three of our cruises have been on older ships. We're ok with that but at some point I'd be interested in seeing what a newer ship might be like.

Excursions. Er... Celebrity didn't do too well in this regard. Most didn't think they were very good, although given the long travel distances for anything interesting from most ports... but with excursions in general, best to keep in mind that private excursions in vans can get you a whole lot closer, and sometimes a bit faster, than the large busses. But in general Celebrity excursions were pretty expensive for what they offered. Exception was the Cooking Class we did in Hoi An. But the value was decent only after I repriced it during a Black Friday type of sale.

Covid. I thought we were in the clear, no known instances on the ship. Thought that until I polled our FB group afterwards and out of the 202 people in the group, I got back 8 responses from people who ended up with Covid, most starting on the ship. None of them tested themselves until after the cruise. Some said they'd been vax'd but I didn't poll on that. So if you're thinking you're safe from Covid on a cruise, think again. Nobody got really sick at least, not reported in our group anyway. We did pass by a few cabins that looked like they were getting enhanced room service, likely quarantined. But it was never obvious on the ship.

Overall, we'd give better marks to Celebrity than NCL, with the exception that the Haven restaurant has a more extensive menu. On the other hand, the Haven menu doesn't change, while Celebrity mixes things up, just not as many options.

mahasamatman

On the Solstice, you can order from any non-specialty menu in Luminae. We always ask for all three menus (Luminae, MDR, and Blu) and frequenetly mix and match.

Glad you liked it, though with the current policies and pricing, we're not sailing Celebrity as much as we used to.

747FC

Mike Jacoubowsky , thanks for the report on the Solstice. About a decade ago, we sailed on her and her sister ship in Concierge Class. Although very big, we found that the interior design/architecture somehow miraculously made it seem that there were fewer people on board. We were pleased with the service as well. Hard to get past embarkation, when so many people are in the queue.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Everyone else in the Retreat, and I do mean everyone, said the embarkation was like nothing they'd experienced before. The issue, really, was simply that they had no queues. Nothing was labeled. No staff pointing people in the right direction. The Hong Kong terminal is in the midst of a lot of issues; the local media are all over the government about it. Particularly for arriving passengers, not nearly enough cabs, and the public transit is confusing at best.

The ship.. compared to an NCL ship (ok, just the two we've been on) it was so much easier to get around! One of the weird things (to us, maybe not most) on NCL ships is that a whole lot of decks don't go "through" from Aft to Forward. The Solstice, no such issues. The only thing that was tough to find was the fitness scale (my wife needed to weigh herself; we're dealing with unexplained and continuing weight loss issues that aren't related to her cancer per se, but her brain isn't up to eating).

We did hear a disembarkation "horror story." Everyone needed to be out of their rooms by 7:30am. Someone in our FB group came back from breakfast at 7:17am and found all of their stuff piled to one side of the room. The attendant told them it was because they had reduced the number of room stewards so basically too much to do, too few people.

Agree about pricing. Ohmygosh. Got really spoiled by the initial post-pandemic incentives to get people back. For this particular cruise, in the Retreat, it ran about half what the same cruise would price out at now, when you factor in that gratuities are no longer included in the all-in package.

I was aware ahead of time that Luminae could pull from both the MDR and Blu, but I'm not the type of person who's going to make a fuss about things (still some of the lowly2p left in me). But staff picked up on my wife's "needs" and voila. Done.

Back to pricing- the other thing I'm noticing is a change where, for most anything but the Carribean itins, you can't book last-minute great deals like you used to be able to. h

mahasamatman

One thing I always note about Celebrity is that they have, bar none, the absolute worst selection of artwork in the starwells. I'm betting they send someone to garage sales with $20 to outfit an entire ship.