Cynthia Hawbolt

I had been invited to sail on Celebrity Solstice for the pre-inaugural sailing in November. With great anticipation I had followed her build and with each press release my excitement had grown.

Celebrity Solstice is the first in the Solstice class with three more of these impressive vessels anticipating to be built and released each year. Celebrity has truly created a remarkable ship that is both beautiful and inspiring.

On boarding you feel that you are in a very beautiful boutique hotel; muted colours of creamy white & chocolate are prevalent with colours of rich burgundy, golds and blue and an array of crystal to sparkle. The decorator in me, was enjoying the differences in textures of materials and carpets throughout the Solstice,
The attention to the details were extreme and a lingering theme with the earth, live trees, real grass lawn.

There are amazing intimate areas created all over the ship from the shaded canopies to the sheer curtained areas. The Cellar Master's was quite lovely with the High back chairs and seating areas to chat and sample the vast selections of chardonays & reislings from around the world.

The staterooms are 25% larger than the other Celebrity ships, 90% oceanview with 85% of them having private verandahs. I took advantage of being able to tour the different categories of staterooms in the afternoons.

I enjoyed the our beautiful stateroom, I enjoyed the pleasure of taking in the sunrise from my own personal balcony and it was also lovely to be able to check the emails from home while lounging in the sun. Each cabin does have a keyboard to access the internet in your room for a charge of course, but a lovely convenience.
The rooms are spacious, the specially made mattresses curved to give you more ease of walking around the bed, the larger bathroom, glass shower doors and lots of extra storage space to make a transatlantic cruise most enjoyable. The staterooms are also adjoining rooms from the hall, the outer door configures so you can access the staterooms from private hallway also unlocking the balcony to have more shared space which is ideal if you are travelling with your family and children.

The food was wonderful and artistically prepared and we really enjoyed the dining room with the floor to ceiling wine cellar, If you are so fortunate to be staying in the Aqua Class rooms you will have the speciality restaurant Aqua Blu at your disposal, with healthy menu choices.

This is the ideal ship if you are wanting to be pampered, spa-ed and love the gym and spinning classes performed outside. It would make a fabulous 'girlfriends getaway,' -- imagine having a manicure in the bright pink totally girly salon! It would also entice a younger group with its very trendy hip atmosphere, martini bars and lively nightclub.

I can't wait to sail on the Solstice again, please join my group this fall or call me to book your own week away.
You haven't lived until you've cruised!