Steve Edwards
Itinerary: Eastern
Mediterranean
Sailing Date: October 30th, 2009
Age: 66
Occupation: retired
Number of Cruises: 7
CELEBRITY SOLSTICE NOT
AS WONDERFUL AS THE FIRST TIME AROUND
We just returned from a 10
night, Rome-Greece-Turkey-Greece-Rome cruise on the
Solstice.
We booked this trip way back in August of 2008, and when
the opportunity arose to be able to take a 7 day
Caribbean trip on the Solstice in March of 2009, we
jumped at it. THAT trip was spectacular…the ship, the
staff, the entertainment, even the food (on most days)
were way above expectations. We compared this cruise to
a “Lexus experience”.
As we were completing this Caribbean cruise and
complementing various crew members and managers, we
learned to our chagrin that most all of the top people
were leaving the Solstice in May to go the newer
Celebrity Equinox. We were assured that the cruise line
would be replacing these excellent employees with
similarly trained employees. Unfortunately, this was not
the case.
Upon boarding the Solstice for the Mediterranean cruise,
we almost immediately felt that something was
“Different”. Among our disappointments were:
Main dining room food was, at best, fair.
Shrimp cocktails were listed on the menu as containing
Jumbo shrimp, but turned out to use much smaller shrimp
than the last time.
The cheesecake dessert was without a doubt the worst
attempt at cheesecake we had EVER experienced. It had no
cheesecake taste at all, and appeared to have been baked
about the same time we were on the ship before – in
March !!
The waiters, who had been exemplary in March, seemed
overwhelmed. They had little, if any time, to “chat” and
to be able to permit ambiance to flow.
The entertainment was, for the most part, pathetic. The
dancers were out of sync, almost like a bad high school
musical. The “Solstice Orchestra” reminded me of a
burlesque band in a seedy downtown joint from the ‘50s.
The drummer had no finesse at all, and the brass section
never did hit the same notes at the same time.
Embarrassing and painful to observe!! The “Soul’d Out” a
capella quartet was pretty lame – the one baby faced
“singer” (?) could have cracked crystal (sorry, Ella
Fitzgerald).
The internet facility was simply the worst we ever
experienced on any ship—anywhere.
I am aware that satellite internet is not the fastest
delivery method, but how about 9 minutes to print a one
page boarding pass??? That’s only if you could even got
logged on in the first place!! Ridiculous.
On the petty side, when leaving the ship, you could buy
water and soft drinks for all the departing land tours,
but only if you agreed to a 15% service charge. For
what??? And the elevators were programmed very poorly.
We experienced long waits at almost every time of day.
On the plus side,
Cruise Director Dru Pavlov, whom we sailed with twice
before, gave his usual “10” effort to everything he
does. Too bad that he too has now (this week) left the
Solstice.
The land tours were Great…fairly priced, and led by
experienced guides.
Bottom line…
The Solstice experience had slid from “Lexus” level to
“Jeep” level….reliable for the most part, but nothing
exceptional.
We have cruised 7 times in the past three years – our
advice – if you’re “Meat and Potatoes” people, the
Solstice is fine. If you like some sophistication and
the pampered feeling that you are cared about, go with
the 700 passenger ships of Oceania or Azamara,
Celebrity’s upscale cousin.
