Celebrity Solstice Cruise Ship Review – Celebrity Cruises Review

Celebrity Cruises Solstice is a 122,000 ton, 2850 passenger cruise ship that entered service in November 2008. She was the first in a series of 5 Solstice-class cruise ships, including the Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, Silhouette, and Reflection. From the moment I stepped onto the Solstice, I knew this one was different. The Solstice had calming, soothe color palettes, with rich dark wood panels and earth tone walls. The spa, the lawn club, hot glass show, the service, and ship itself were amazing. The Solstice was elegant yet understated; it felt luxurious to me.

The cabins were very comfortable and Zen-like, and I felt like I was staying at a spa. I had the pleasure of staying in a balcony stateroom, with a supple white leather couch that doubled as a bed, and the bedding was beautiful and extremely comfortable. The shower had a shave-bar…a feature I found very useful when shaving my legs.

The pool area was like nothing I had ever seen. There were dancing waters..and comfortable lounge chairs. I especially loved the cabanas around the pool.

Dining onboard the Solstice was spectacular. The food was scrumptious. The dinner selections at the Grand Epernay Dining Room every evening were fantastic, and decadent. Casual buffet dining is offered at the Oceanview Cafe. There is also a fabulous selection of specialty restaurants, including Murano serving French cuisine, a steakhouse for meat lovers…Tuscan Grille, Silk Harvest serving Asian cuisine, and Blu Restaurant – serving healthy fare for all AquaClass guests. The specialty dining restaurants do carry a surcharge, but are well worth trying for something different, or for special occasions.

The Solstice is calming, relaxing, and classy but not stuffy. Celebrity has a luxury line of ships in the Solstice class….and have done an outstanding job. It exceeded my expectations of what a ship should be…I was wowed.

Clients looking for something more than a party ship atmosphere, food and wine lovers, or those looking to cruise in a luxurious ship without luxury pricing will enjoy the Celebrity Solstice.

The Solstice sails the Caribbean in the winter, and the Mediterranean in the summer.

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Cruise Ship Review – Review of the Carnival Triumph

The Triumph is an older, not as well designed ship, in the Triumph class of ship sailing under the Carnival banner. The theme of this ship is cities. You can have dinner in the Paris dining room or watch a stage show in the Rome lounge, or enjoy a drink in the New York Bar.

Most of the Carnival ships are designed for fun, hence the advertising tag, “the Funships”. Your cruise on board one of these funships will be less elegant and the service will not be as good as on board one of the more expensive and therefore, more refined other cruise lines such as Princess or Holland America. It is for this reason that the Carnival ships are difficult to review.

The design of the ship can best be described as unfortunate. It is not possible to get all the way across the Promenade deck of the ship without going up and down the stairs. And it is most unfortunate that you almost always have to go through the casino to get anywhere on decks 3 and 4. But the major flaw of this ship is the fact that it is the only vessel I have ever sailed on that does not have an around the ship walking track. The only way to go for a fitness walk around the ship is either on the running track or the Lido deck.

Since the predominate theme of the Carnival ships are fun, more than luxury, service or class, a lot of your enjoyment of the cruise will be in the Cruise director and his or her staff. It is especially important to take full advantage of all the seemingly crazy activities on board the ship. On my recent carnival cruises I have performed Island dancing, been runner-up on Carnival fear factor, and even been a finalist on Carnival Idol. These sorts of activities are as far from my homelife persona as one could be but I really enjoy my cruises and you should too.

When I cruise, I really enjoy everything it has to offer. From the first-class Broadway style shows to the five-star gourmet cuisine.

If you are going on a cruise vacation, you will also want to get the most out of it. I can help you learn the cruise basics as well some more advanced money saving, cruise enjoying techniques.

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