Celebrity Solstice

Bought a cabin, and got a different one!!! – Very disappointed with my experience so far. I booked a Prime Varanda, and at the time of reservation, it showed as being in the middle of the ship. However, when I checked later, I realized they had assigned me a cabin at the very front. I get seasick when sailing at the ends of the ship. I called customer service and spent over an hour on the… Read more

phone, but they refused to change my cabin. If I canceled, I would lose my deposit. The only alternative they offered was to combine my and my wife's reservation with my children's into a single cabin in the middle of the ship—despite originally booking two separate cabins. I'm extremely disappointed with the service. It’s hard to believe the entire ship is fully booked! They could and should have been more honest and considerate toward us as passengers. The result? All four of us now have to share one cabin!

Here is the description of your Prime Varanda:

Prime Veranda Stateroom

. Amenities:

Sleeps 2-4. Studio, 1 bathroom. 246 sqft.

Located on higher decks. Midship, central deck locations.

Balcony with seating.

As you can see, it says very Clear: MIDSHIP!

A nightmare – I can only say that precruise booking customer service is a nightmare. We had two back to back cruises booked and paid in full. With an unexpected spinal surgery, not covered under travel insurance as said to be pre-existing, made us have to cancel our cruises. Communication by phone and email were only misleading or not answered. I had to go to… Read more

the Office of Fair Trading to get the 50% refund we were owed under their Terms & Conditions. It was suggested when cancelling that we may get back a full refund because of the medical situation. What joke that was, we had to fight to get back what we were owed. The number of promotional email Celebrity sends is ridiculous, they would be better to look after their existing customer. We would never recommend to book with Celebity.

Great ship but the worst app – The celebrity app is terrible It doesn’t show your included packages clearly I love the ships but if you need to check your inclusions, impossible! Needs an update

Appalling customer service – We are in a similar situation to other reviews here. We had a cruise booked for November 2022, which was cancelled by Celebrity in April 2022, because of uncertainty regarding Covid travel restrictions. We could either rebook or get our deposit back. We chose to get our deposit back, and 5 months later are still waiting for our refund. We booked… Read more

through a travel agent who has been working relentlessly on our behalf without an outcome. The customer service line doesn’t answer, the email address is unresponsive, I have messaged the CEO and utilised social media all to no avail. What next? Suggestions welcome.

Still Waiting on refund – Booked and paid for a cruise on Celebrity Solstice NZ to Australia June 2019 using a credit from a previous cruise cancelled by Celebrity then Celebrity cancelled another cruise in September 2020 due to Covid. They offered a cash refund within 60 days. Still waiting for refund 7 months later. Travel agent with whom I went through is trying very hard on my behalf to obtain this refund but so far Celebrity/Royal Carribean has not done so.  Show details

One annoying problem – Been on the ship three times and no complaints although on a few occasions some staff have been a little gruff and I guess I can understand why. The most annoying part of cruising in home territory (walking and driving on the left) is the lack of respect and courtesy from those who walk and drive on the right. Those from the USA in particular… Read more

stand their ground on the right and force all other walkers to comply. Having travelled extensively in countries where walking on the right is normal we have always adhered to the rule, it is only respectful to do so. It would be most helpful if the ship would provide information to guests of this simple courtesy and any other courtesy requirements for countries visited. Other than this, ship and crew is highly recommended.

Amazing from start to finish – We just took our first Celebrity 11 night cruise to Tropical North Qld. Could not fault the rooms, dining, staff and amenities - all are amazing and looking to book cruise 2 already. Loved everything about this ship and would recommend to anyone. Show details

Disappointing – Trip to Airily beach aggressively spoken to when they somehow misplaced our 6 pm dinning was told 8:30 only and no change ,tender process is a joke if you have no trip booking 9 tour boats came in untill the first tender was available , cant walk on deck in morning as walking track goes through the smoking section best bar on rear of deck is… Read more

cigar smoking US dollars kills us Aussie's Royal Caribbean,P&O and Norwegian lengths above this bunch of toff noses room staff are awesome but the quality of shows arnt close to the other ships . The specialty Restaurants are superb but you have to walk into the Toff nose section to find them

Accessible rooms wonderful – booked and paid months ahead so we wouldn't miss the accessible rooms can highly recommend to accessible rooms very easy to use would only travel with celebrity cruises we travelled at Christmas to new Zealand for 13 days highly recommended staff help me get my husband on and off the ship with the wheelchair excellent service Show details

We havent left yet and already we are disappointed – This isnt about the ship itself, it is about the cruise line and their at best misleading offer on a drinks package and their inability to even respond to an issue they have caused. We are booked on a cruise later this year and were offered a 20% discount off the price of the Classic drinks package. It was originally priced at a little over $80… Read more

per day and the price offered was $68.44. I did some checking to see if the package would suit us, but that was made extremely difficult when I phoned Celebrity's customer service number and NO ONE could tell me if the price of $68.44 INCLUDED a 20% charge that is applied for all drinks. The first agent told me he didnt think it did, but couldnt be sure, so asked his supervisor who said it DID include the 20%. I asked him to send an email confirming that so I would have something in writing as it was so confusing and he happily agreed. However no email arrived!

I rang again. This time the new agent was CERTAIN the 20% was included, but I again asked her to check because it took her around 15 minutes to make that decision and when she asked HER supervisor, he said it didnt!

I went to the Celebrity plan your booking page and on there, when I looked at the offer, at the top of the page it said the price was $68.44 and at the bottom of the page the words were printed...."A 20% gratuity charge HAS been added to each package price listed above." Pretty conclusive really you would have thought.

Due to the varied responses from Celebrity's own people, I rang my own travel agent who said she assumed it DID but would call celebrity and let me know. I got a call back stating that she had been told by Celebrity that it DID include the 20%.

So I clicked add to cart... and guess what happened? Yes, the price that appeared in my cart had the 20% ADDED to it making it over $80!!

Now with all the calls and trouble I had gone to to avoid being charged the wrong price, I felt this needed to be handled by Celebrity further up the chain. So I wrote an email to their pre departure email address. I would have rung, except Celebrity in Australia dont actually have a direct number advertised. In fact contacting them in ANY way other than to their off shore call centre is pretty much impossible.

On the email I attached pictures of the add to cart price and the in cart price and explained all that had occurred and over a day later they havent even bothered to reply. I also went to their Facebook page and they appear to have refused to respond to it there as well.

It has to be said that if it were a mistake, you would assume they would have jumped on it instantly but their lack of reply is only making it look far more suspicious and will force me to escalate the matter very shortly. Let's face it if it isnt a mistake, then it is either misleading advertising or worse and could end up as a very nasty mess for Celebrity with very serious consequences.

In the meantime, we are booked on a cruise with a company that has to all intents and purposes tried to charge me over $200 more than they claimed and that will mean I will be going through my on-board account with a fine tooth comb every day. It has certainly taken the gloss off a $10,000 cruise we had been looking forward to for no reason other than stupidity at Celebritys offices.

Check you final account – I checked my account via the TV before dinner on our last night, it was correct. I then received my debit via my visa once I arrived home, it was incorrect by $125.00. I contacted customer relations for an updated account. They had billed me for some photos I did not purchase, which was much later in the evening, I had no need to check my… Read more

account then, as everything I purchased was correct when I had checked earlier.

I contacted customer relations three weeks ago, and they keep telling me that the photo gallery on the ship hasn't responded to their emails.

I am so frustrated as I probably have someone else's photos billed to my visa.

Not happy at this stage.

I was on the cruise that had to return to Melbourne due to a very sick passenger. I am hoping that person is well. The only choice was to turn back, it was the right choice to make.

Auditory abuse! – Solstice is beautiful with the friendliest, most caring, attentive and helpful crew ever experienced. The food is good, the live shows are first class entertainment- best ever! The ship is spotless with everything in the stateroom working perfectly. The carousel type shower was a pleasure to use, the air conditioning highly effective.The… Read more

embarkation process was effortless and well organized.

Despite all the wonderful attributes mentioned above, my husband and I were in a constant state of trauma and unhappiness on this lovely ship. Why?

We suffered from a constant, invasive, relentless ubiquitous cacophony of noise masquerading as music piped throughout the ship. There was no respite from this awful abusive racket from pop/rap/disco music best suited to teenyboppers than to baby boomers who comprised about 80+% of the passengers. We were victims on board of a faceless group of people in Miami who dictate to the passengers what kind of music they should be listening to.

Where is their market research that forces us to listen to this most age-inappropriate noise played whilst eating in the Ocean View, the elegant dining room, the Sky Lounge, the bars, the lawns, the pool area, the theatre before the shows begin. The cacophony even continued whilst the man on Willis Island was reporting about life there - that is until my husband (very angry at that stage) demanded from a crew member that the music be silenced!

The only sanctuary from this incessant loud obnoxious music was in our stateroom where we sought refuge for most of the trip. This is not what we paid for!

Together with another couple, we approached the Cruise Director who promised to lower the volume. This never happened! In fact, that very evening we had to complain about the noise to a crew member whilst enjoying a lovely dinner in the elegant dining room. Therefore since no notice of our complaint was heeded, we have no qualms about sending this review to various websites warning other mature age passengers what to expect audio-wise. This constant noise can only be described as abuse and torture to mature passengers and it has become obvious that the bean counters in Miami have sold away the rights of most of the venues to parade their rubbish music. We have cruised about 30 times and this noise of so-called music forced upon us all over the ship is the worst ever. Solstice is a beautiful ship but we just couldn't find the peace and good dinner conversation we craved either in the Ocean View or formal dining venues. One grew tired of shouting above the music.

This marred an otherwise much anticipated cruise and we would hesitiate before cruise again with Celebrity.

Wonderful medical staff – Unfortunately after enjoying the first few days of our cruise I was suddenly taken I’ll with pneumonia. I was having trouble breathing,which was very frightening,but thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses on the Celebrity Solstice I was well looked after until we returned to Melbourne and taken to hospital where I spent the next 11 days. A big thank you to the Captain and crew who I’m sure saved my life THANK YOU so much

Cruising Perfection – It was our first time on a Celebrity Cruise having cruised several times with Princess Line. We were very happy with every element of the trip, the staff were amazing, the cabins clean and good space. The facilities on board were brilliant. We loved every minute

Norovirus, luggage theft, property damage and give us your money – Boarding delayed due to extra cleaning from Norovirus on previous cruise. Virus on my cruise 22/10/17 and now on the news as again present on current cruise. "Extra Cleaning" however, bathroom had hair and grot around the sink and the shower had not been cleaned. My luggage was not delivered, up and down all first day looking for it, worried I… Read more

didn't even have a change of clothes for 8 days...Was told to be patient. Went to guest services at 7.15 pm and was told it was confiscated for containing alcohol. said yes it has a 750ml bottle of wine which your website says is OK. I asked "Why didn't you contact me? They said we have to check its not hard liquor...at this point I realised the lock was missing off my suitcase and upon opening -my belongings had been completely searched, rifled through- shoe bags, toiletry bags.. etc opened..after raising hell...I was offered half a day at the Persian garden ($20) which I declined - as "compensation" The stress of the day caused me too clench my teeth during sleep and caused temporary mandibular dislocation (dislocated Jaw) as described by the ships doctor...so I spent the cruise on Brufen and Panadeine Forte which meant no alcohol and soft food only. The staff said it was the fault of the security on dock and more or less said...too bad..they did submit a complaint to customs...but would not let me submit a complaint in writing or speak to anyone else...Thinking about suing them instead as they obviously know there was a problem...and It was me who suffered without any regard of theirs at all... Avoid, They get your money and its all downhill from there. Buffet was repetitive,chairs are worn to the point of you sitting on the wood frame.. Entertainment venue is the stairs in the atrium??Total lack of daily activities other than sales pitches for drink packages, diamonds, art, acupuncture? or future cruises, walked around thinking i was missing everything, till it dawned, there was just nothing on..Lines for restaurants and the buffet is not good during norovirus outbreak.. Cannot use the lawn as its fenced off...but shows kids movies on a tiny screen at night...advertised as the outdoor theatre...but is really the kids club.No other movie theatre onboard.. In room movies a total joke... No books in library bcause of virus..boring boring boring. Cost of internet ridiculous. The one cocktail I had on night one was terrible..They just tip stuff in, not even measured -let alone mixed with any flair..hard to wreck a mojito but they did..many passengers including myself couldn't wait to get off. Mass walkouts on the last night from the cabaret show in the theatre... used to be the standard of Tom Burlinson..Snooty staff herding you to the boutiques..Never again.

sydney to ilse of pines-mystery is.-lifou-numea – 1st celebrity cruise,me and the little lady mid 50s- we had a inside cabin on deck 3-boarded around 3 p.m-all of 15 minutes from bag drop off to walking up gangway! glass of sparkling on arrival..walked straight to room-very handy possie just a few steps from the foyer and grand epernay rest. room modern-ship built 2008-all wood and everythink… Read more

works,,,p@o mgt can learn alot from these people!

okay so my Personal likes are-staff-food-decor-ship stability-we has the tail of cyclone debbie on the return leg,she s amazing

in the 40knot wind and 4 mtr swell we had.

all staff greet you with a smile_Except for some busy bar staff-who are so busy pouring drinks...but thats only a minor exception

food-i luv buffetts-i luv self serve,i was in hog heaven!! ...!tryed the G Epernay a few times,i felt more cozy eating with the tracksuit

crowd in the oceanview cafe for B-L-D.luved the hot dogs at the mast grill !!!ALL GOOD TUCKER

decor-a class above royal carrabean-55 and over folks,very few kids.Dont spoil your kids taking them on celebrity please,becouse the only way is down

for them in future !!!

glass balconys all round ship-luvlly to look out from

islands-i was here a year ago on R.C-a lot greener this year,good rainfall on all islds.lifou seems nicer,clear blue water,isle of pines,same,

mystery new wharf -and numea seems friendlyer,with meet and greeters at tourist info bus stop

special mention island tenders,i was on the 1st tender at each stop,8a.m get ticket,walk onto tender around 8.15 a.m ,perfection-AND ship leaves islands at 6p.m,last tender around 5.15,so we did 2 trips per stop,with lunch onboard each stop.p@o wants you back around 3.30,R.C 4 ish!!!

will i be back-peronally i,m very happy with royal carrabean to the islands,as i luv the mini golf-rock climbing,full walk around promanade decks

of explorer-voyager of the seas,BUt when i,m 64 and older.celebrity all the way..special mention-.wine tasting---drink as much as you like in a hour !!!wines of the world-6 countrys red and whites,they put on a big cheese board-talk to other winos ,and only a 2 minute walk to your room...

CELEBRITY SOLSTICE TRIP NUMBER 2 – Boarded our second trip on the Celebrity Solstice in Auckland on Friday February 17, 2017. We were booked AQUA CLASS so we had priority boarding at 11:30, although all the other guests were given designated times most turned up at 11:30, so confusion occurred with the Celebrity staff standing at the front of the queue asking if people were on… Read more

Decks 11&12 instead at the back of the queue directing people to the correct line, other than that check in and boarding were okay.

Less hassle about buying “Beverage Packages” like on our previous cruise, (see review Sun Sets on Solstice 1/12/2016). This was probably because Celebrity are now including them in the selected prices.

Our AQUA CLASS Suite 1526 was good and reasonably close to the front of the ship lifts.

Our ports of call, Tauranga, Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin, Hobart and Sydney together with the Fiords cruise through were excellent. Overall (for New Zealand, the land of the long wet cloud) the weather was near perfect and the seas were very calm.

Did our own excursions in all locations, and like many, refuse to use the ships “rip off” excursions. They still harass LOL’s by telling them they will go without them if they don’t get back to the ship on time, forcing them to use their excursions. We had to cancel the small group tour we booked with Custom Day Tours to Rotorua due to the weather, with no cancellation fee.

We did a small group, four hour tour in Dunedin for $46 USD per person, when the ship was charging $20 USD per person for a return shuttle from Port Chalmers to Dunedin. Their day will come when people get more cruise line choices and will boycott these ships. Finally they have seen the logic in not charging Australians “gratuities” and are giving them the options at the time of booking.

Aqua Class, Blu dining was a big disappointment. The first night I had a beautiful Filet Mignon (USA), just Filet steak in Australia, which was up there with the best. Meals as we progressed were ordinary, except I ordered the Filet Mignon on the last night, even though it wasn’t on the menu, good as the first. Celebrity are trying to get a restaurant to sit in between Grand Epernay and their overpriced speciality restaurants, but have failed. Even the staff didn’t know there was 25% less menu items in Blu, than in Grand Epernay. We didn’t go to the over priced, half full, Speciality Restaurants this cruise as they don’t have the value for the priced charged.

The Grand Epernay and the Oceanview Cafe’ are of a standard comparable to most cruise lines, although very congested at breakfast, especially on sea days.

The only day guests lined up for the chefs’ lunchtime special was when he put on fish & chips, 20 deep. When asked whether it would be on again, NO. When we stopped in Hobart, every Fish & Chips Seafood restaurants were full of cruisers.

Attended the “Beyond the Podium with Mary Atkins” on Tasmania. Very informative and I suggested to her she include the Beaconsfield Mine Disaster in her updates, as the Americans were across it when it happened, with Brant and Todd appearing on prime time TV in USA.

Special thanks to our cabin boy Paul, Georgiana at reception in Epernay and Charlie and the boys in the Passport Bar.

The entertainment was of a high standard with only two flops. Artists like Bayne Bacon, Greg Andrew (Elton John Experience), Ryan Joyce, Mario D’andrea, Will Martin, Keith Scott and the Solstice, Singers, Dance and Acrobats were all very entertaining. Cruise Director Ken (if he picks the entertainment) has excelled and only said “awesome” 100 times instead of 1000 times like on the last cruise.

Spoke to a number of cruises who were involved in the coach/car crash in Akaroa and they all spoke highly of the assistance given by Celebrity. At the end of the day we can all complain about the cold mashed potatoes, bad entertainment etc but expect the Cruise line to stand up and be counted in the times of trouble, and Celebrity did this above and beyond what was expected. Well done.

Disembarkation was fair considering we were third off and it was raining in Sydney and the dope handling the coaches couldn’t get it into his head that people travelling to the airport wanted to go in the coach that their luggage was in. Can’t comment on how it was after us.

Celebrity are slowly getting it right for Australian cruisers:

1. NO GRATUITIES. (Pay the staff a decent wage).

2. CUT THE EXCURSIONS PRICE IN HALF.

3. MORE ACTIVITIES ON BOARD. (especially on days at sea). Use the entertainers on board to do an afternoon show.

4. STOP THE “IN YOUR FACE” JUNK SALES.

5. LET THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S KNOW THAT IF CRUISERS WANT PHOTOS THEY’LL APPROACH THEM.

Amazing – Our cruise on the beautiful ship the Solstice, was a fabulous way to spend Christmas and New Year. The ship was beautifully decorated for the festive season and it was great to be looked after by someone else. It certainly made our Christmas stress free. From the moment we stepped aboard, we were wined, dined and entertained for 12 nights by a… Read more

first rate crew. Nothing was ever too much trouble. The whole experience certainly surpassed our expectations.

Idiots with shocking customer service – Do NOT book a Guarantee GTY cabin. I booked 2 Guarantee GTY balcony rooms as linked reservations, and these idiots have allocated us room on different floors, on opposite sides of the ship, AND one at the front of the ship and the other at the back. Pretty much as far apart as you can literally be. They advertise that Guarantee GTY means the… Read more

location on the ship could be anywhere, which is fine, but not when 2 rooms on linked bookings are miles apart! Clearly no brain or common sense between anyone on their reservations team.

Their customer service is shocking. My mother, who is in the other room, phoned to speak with them yesterday and the rude man she got was extremely condescending and lied, claiming the ship is now fully booked so he couldn't change either of the rooms, which is joke because both yesterday and right now they still have multiple rooms available on their website for sale.

I will never book another cruise with Celebrity again.

Not worth the extra money over other cruiselines – Went on a 13 day cruise to new zealand from sydney. The good (and there wasn't much that was) was the ship itself. Very clean and well maintained. Good housekeeping of rooms. Two chocolates left on the bed pillow every night was a nice touch. Room though small, had plentiful storage and a comfortable mattress. I had a balcony. Service in the… Read more

speciality restaurants was very good. Food at sushi on 5 was excellent. Most of the staff were friendly and helpful. Only a few kids on board who were well behaved. The shows each night at the solstice theatre were good. Seasoned performers such as Tom Burlinson. The bars/lounges on the ship had a good ambience & vibe like the martini bar. The barmen were very entertaining. The aussie cruise director ben had a great sense of humour. Shame he didn't have his own show!

Now the bad. Buffet food in the oceanview cafe was awful! Dried out tough meat and chicken. Most of the food was luke warm. Cheap cuts of meat. Desserts tasteless and fruit not ripe! With the exception of some fish which was usually in a curry, stew or stir fry, there was no other seafood to be seen! Where is the shellfish? I wouldn't expect seafood on P & O however I would on a so called luxury cruiseline! Food in the grand epernay dining room was better but portioned to such a degree you were left still hungry. Point in case, scrambled eggs basically a tablespoon. Mushrooms next to the eggs was 1 tiny button mushroom sliced! They obviously do this on purpose to make you dine in the speciality restaurants which you pay a cover charge, to get more money out of you! The quantity of food on the plate doesn't get better. Sushi on 5 is an exception. A had classic beverage package which covered spirits like bacardi and vodka. Apparently mineral water is not included but soda water is! Figure that one out! One night I stupidly didn't look at what my drinks list included and asked for grand marnier on ice. Well it wasn't included so i was stung with $13 US! I thought I'd treat myself to a facial thinking that the beauticians were celebrity employees! Wrong! All working for cosmetics companies! So after the facial there he was pushing the cosmetics on to me! $440 US thank you very much. This included an 18% gratuity that is mandatory!!!!! Casino was also a wrought. If you had less than twenty credits most of the machines won't let you play it, so it's left for the next poor sucker. Guests that were regular visitors to the casino questioned the staff whether anybody had won any decent money. The answer was a fake emphatic yes. I was there often and nobody won anything big! The shops were catered mostly to the women. Nothing for the men except for watches and a tiny rack of boring nautica polo shirts. I refused to purchase any tacky celebrity covered shirts or other memorabilia. At night, photographers were lurking near staircases and almost every other pathway to get pictures of you and thus more US dollars out of you. I refused all the time. Even in the formal dining room they kept coming up to you. The worst was when some poor underpaid staff member was dressed up in a ducksuit! Very tacky! Entertainment during the day was non existent. It usually consisted of some speaker talking about topics like finding happiness and how to cook the perfect fish! Fascinating! Thank god for the library. I read 4 books I was so bored. Most of the TV channels were dedicated to celebrity. Yes station after station getting you to book more shore excursions and your next cruise with them! More money gouging when you're trying to enjoy the cruise that took you a year to save for! Mini bar in room had every alcohol under the sun but no snacks! No crisps no nuts no lollies... nothing! No alarm clock or pen and paper to write anything on in room. Bad bad bad. No ironing facilities in room due to safety I understand but why not a fireproofed laundry room to iron clothes? To have all my clothes pressed by the laundry service would have cost me at least $200 US!! Once again thanks to a mandatory 50% surcharge!!!!! Needless to say on evening chic nights my clothes looked very creased! Mind you others who weren't mugs to pay the criminal laundry charges looked a little dishevelled too! The shore excursions through celebrity were marked up by at least 2 to 3 times the price than doing it through a tour group direct. Plus you're paying US dollars not NZ. They sent me an invitation to meet other solo travellers on board. However the invitation was given to me after the event! I would have liked to attend! New Zealand itself was beautiful. Wonderful scenery and friendly people. The weather was great.... we were very lucky. New zealand exceeded my expectations tenfold. Unfortunately I cannot say the same of celebrity cruises. The moral of the story is don't think by paying more than other cruiselines such as P & O and Carnival you're going to get better quality food and facilities because you will not!!! Use the extra money you will save by not going celebrity, through excursions and shopping. That's what I should have done! Oh my bill for all the extas plus fees and surcharges by the bank and celebrity was $1860 AU. Only $100 of this was on the casino. This was on top of the $4K AU for the cruise itself. So as you can gather not enough good for me to go on another celebrity cruise. I would not recommend them.

Beats the Rest – Everything about the cruise was perfect. Easy embarkation and disembarkation. Tendering was efficient with minimal delays. Normal dining room was good and the others excellent. Didn't bother with the buffet. The shows we saw were OK. We didn't expect Las Vegas. It sets a benchmark against what we will use as a measure against all other cruises and cruise-lines.

Nice staff very friendly people – Was really a great week and the crew and staff are all very friendly. The guys at the bar recommends good stuff and as a vacationer, I really appreciate people like that. The place is nice and clean, elegant, and very classy. The ladies love it. Will definitely do it again. Outstanding experience

great time – Booking was easy through the same agent, check in was quick and easy, have done two cruises the Solstice first was out of Fremantle up west coast to poet headland which I found was a waste of a day, then onto Bali for an overnight off shore anchorage. which was also a waste hen onto Darwin. I would have preferred more time in Darwin.I believe trip… Read more

has been rearranged so port Headland and Bali are out and with an extra night in Darwin. second cruise was out of Sydney Hobart then east coast of NZ then flew home. Ship is extremely comfortable clean and crew are always helpful and polite. drinks package and select dining is highly recommended. great foods be aware of your weight.

The Best Cruise Ship For Australians With Style – The Celebrity Solstice ship is based in Australia each year from October to the following April. I have sailed 7 times on her and have nothing but praise for her service, cleanliness, cabin comfort, specialty restaurant options, and the overall friendly attitude that all crew show their guests. I would give her 5/5 on all aspects, except… Read more

entertainment which I would give 4/5. The decor is bright and light and very modern, compared to many ships that are dark and gloomy even if they have been decorated expensively. I love to be able to look out from most parts of the ship, and this is possible on Celebrity Solstice class ships. The Asian restaurant the Silk Harvest is my very favourite and always dine there at least twice on my cruises. I can highly recommend this ship if you seek style, and elegance, over "lots of bars and clubs, etc." Happy sailing.

Limited Choice of Meals – We did a 17 day cruise, and mostly used the Dining Room for Breakfast and Dinner in the evening, and it was the same menu every day, there was a number of choices, but each day it was the same old Menu. If shall we say there was only two of the choices that you liked, well after a few days, you get fed up with the same old meals.

Best Cruise! – The service was amazing, bartenders didn't leave you wanting drinks. I had a special request for dinner the following night and they were so accommodating to provide it. The ship is very modern, just awesome!

American All the Way – I just disembarked from the Celebrity Solstice after a 12 night cruise to the Loyalty Islands Noumea, Fiji and Isle Des Pins. Let me make it clear this is absolutely a fantastic ship very smooth and quiet thanks to it's thoughtful modern design and innovation. The friendly crew were always very welcoming with a courteous greeting be it the deck… Read more

cleaner or a senior staff member but that's about where the Celebrity Status stopped. Celebrity is self ranked as a Premium Brand with premium pricing which I knew was the case when I booked but I didn't expect the constant in your face upselling that makes Maccas look like a bunch of amateurs. With this cruise company which is related to the Royal Carribbean brand and which is being closely followed by many of the brands under the Carnival Banner it seems that they strive to have us believe that when fulfilling the Aussie Season they adapt to our likes and are aware of our dislikes but let me tell you they are Yankee Doodle Dandy all the way. The dining on this ship gives fast food a new meaning out of 12 main meals only 4 could be ranked as satisfactory. Sure there are a magnitude of choices but none of them come close to being appetising served luke warm if your lucky, dry meats cooked hours ahead and then added to the sauces or condiments doesn't make a tasty meal no matter how good it looks. The management of this company has set a high standard for their expectation but when it comes to the food u get the impression that the bean counters in the head office in Miami have the last say and that the Executive chef and his team have to make do with what they have which lets the whole idea down. You know what it's like when companies start believing their own hype well this mob are true believers. Even if you fork out the extra $50 per head to dine in one of the upscale restaurants you are not guaranteed of a large difference in the quality. Another example of the Americanisation of Australian cruising is the annoying in house TV it's all American despite them offering Fox don't they know that Fox and MSN offer an Aussie service that would enable guests to at least keep up with domestic affairs and these modern flat screens have most of the mod cons yet despite this they insist that everything is presented letterbox format that makes everyone short and fat. This is more a message that will hopefully be read by someone from the company able to implement the necessary changes that would deliver the experience the management intended as well as value for the premium one pays for it. If you reading this review for your personal assessment your experience cruising with Celebrity should be interpreted as, As good as you will get but you'll pay more for the brand than others that deliver just as good an experience and bang fir your buck.

Solstice Stole our Hearts – As an avid P&O Pacific dawn fan jumping ship was a big thing to me but certainly glad we made the effort. Deciding on a 12 night NZ cruise Nov 14 we were blown away by her size and majestic appearance all i can say is WOW. From the initial get go we were floored by her beauty and style everything from the staircases, artwork and shops, I am… Read more

certain after 12 nights we still hadn't covered her completely. I would have to say it did seem to be a little older demagraphic than on the Dawn where we usually party hard :) We are in our mid to late 40's and travelling with a 10 year old well I should probably say what 10 year old as I think we had dinner with him twice on the whole cruise the kids club was Awesome, and he had us rebooked straight away. The rooms were very compact but extremely functional we chose a deluxe balcony room and was very sufficent for the duration. The things that are different to P&O that did make it stand out were the drink packages, might i say we didn't go with this as neither of us are overly big drinkers and we certainly spent less than the packages were worth. Gratuities there are a couple of ways of dealing with this...you can pre-pay or they credit your cruise account each day for $12 per person or you can at the end of the cruise just pay what you think is appropriate, we did also leave a small tip for our room attendant and gave our waiters something extra as well. You get the same dinner setting each night and the same table and same waiters so its nice to be greeted each night by name makes you feel special:) Photo packages are also on the Celebrity line these are great $300 up front and that gave us every photo from the whole cruise in hard copy and on disc much cheaper than P&O. Another helpful and handy addition is you can view your photos and your onboard account right from your TV in your room saves going down and asking all the time. My main gripe if you could call it that was the exchange rate because it is an American ship the ship only deals in US dollars so your account is in US this caught us out a little, the ATM onboard was in US and charged $6 per transaction so keep these things in mind maybe exchange money before leaving etc. Well on a final note NZ was sooooo beautiful and every port was an experience from swimming with wild dolphins in Akaroa to glow worm caves and Lord of the Rings experiences NZ and Celebrity Solstice are must on the bucket list.

Celebrity Solstice Pacific Islands & Fiji - Excellent – My wife and I sailed on the Solstice out of Sydney on 23 Oct 13. This was our first cruise with Celebrity and our fifth cruise all up. We loved it...so much so that we have booked on the Solstice again in Apr 2014 and Jan 2015! This is not really a party ship like the P&O experiences that we have had; it is a little more sedate/relaxed. It was an… Read more

older passenger compliment but that was ideal for us. We are both in our early 50s. The cruise staff were exceptional and the facilities onboard were extremely good. We purchased the Premium Drinks Package prior to boarding and this is a major selling point IMHO. Just not having to ever worry about what ordering or how much ordering is tremendous. Ours was a 12 night cruise and we had previously been to all the ports of call. If new to Noumea though, I'd recommend the Tchou Tchou (pronounced Choo Choo) train.

All in all, we loved the Solstice and can't wait for Apr to arrive! Drinks Package, Staff, Amenities Any complaints we had were so minor I cannot even recall what they were

Celebrity Solstice QLD cruise – We have recently returned from our 11 night QLD cruise on Celebrity Solstice. We had previously been on the P & O Pacific Dawn. First of all the ship, celebrity solstice is a magnificent ship, it was modern and extremely clean. The crew were excellent and could not be more helpful/friendly. The food was exceptional (the only thing is the buffet… Read more

needs to change the type of food more) overall we found this cruise excellent but we experienced a few negatives. The tendering process on this cruise was appalling, we took one hour fifteen minutes to get from the ship to the catamaran by this stage people were annoyed and frustrated ( Not. Great start to the day trip) we arrived on the barrier reef pontoon with approx 300 other people well surprise surprise there was not enough goggles, flippers etc... To go snorkelling very very disappointing consider we paid $500 for 2 people. After a long day on the reef it then took us another hour and a half to get from the catamaran to the ship. It was extremely frustrating and it made you think twice about going off the ship. Every time we went off the ship the tendering process was appalling, frustrating and just spoilt the day before it started.

Other things we found compared to the P& O is the dress code, if you are an Aussie please keep in mind this is an American cruise line and we Aussie's do things differently. The dress code all over the ship after about 7pm is very very dressy, we were having a lazy day/ night and just went for a walk down the shops about 7.30pm in our shorts and t-shirts (not stubbies and thongs) but nice casual wear. Well the look we got, people looked down their noses like we were from another planet. Even around the pool area people are very over dresses. Overall we had a great time on this cruise but would I go on another Americal cruise ship