Celebrity Solstice

We chose this cruise, for the Christmas and New Year period, because we prefer to sail with Celebrity and we were drawn to the itinerary. From the outset, we knew the ship was due an upgrade and that certain aspects may not be perfect. The most noticeable bits of wear were in the stateroom and its balcony plus in some of the public washrooms. The bars, restaurants and lounges were all lovely. The cruise director was great (one of the best) however some of the shows/headliners and general entertainment was average compared to other Celebrity cruises we’ve been on. As it was the holiday period, there were x100 more children than usual on a Celebrity ship. We did have an issues (door slamming and swearing) with two young boys next door which meant, eventually, the Concierge had to sort a move for us. It was generally noticeable that there was more cabin noise than on the Edge class ships. The food was really good in the main dining room, Ocean View Cafe plus Murano. The staff at the bars we used were fantastic; Martini Bar, Sunset and Cellar Masters. The ports on this itinerary are generally a long way from main places of interest, so planning ahead was key. We thought the ship could have been more helpful with the information they provided about them. The only ship excursion we joined was to the Cu Chi tunnels, which was thoroughly enjoyable despite the long distance. Personally, I was hoping to play some pickleball but the court wasn’t ideal - baseline too near enclosure and at the front on ship, so too far too windy on sea days. As the Solstice is being refurbished, we would consider taking this cruise again as there are places of interest we didn’t manage to see. We met some lovely fellow travellers, early in the voyage, which meant we had a great Christmas and start to 2026.

The room was lovely plenty of storage space. The food was very nice although I must admit I found the main restaurant quite repetitive. The buffet was absolutely top class though we actually had concierge class although the sad thing was nobody told us or explained what concierge was and we didn’t find out till day eight which was disappointing to say the least considering we’d actually paid for concierge class. I was quite disappointed with the cabin situation as we were travelling with family and we made celebrity aware of that by joining our bookings together with our family members only to be put next to a pair of children and on the other side of us were their parents and on the other side of their parents were our family members, would’ve been nice if we were contacted by Celebrity with an offer of swapping with them because we had children banging doors every time they came in and out of their rooms which was constant, plus the arguing, that spoiled the trip a little bit for us to be fair. You’d go back to the cabin to relax and the kids would be in and out slamming doors and shouting . Maybe a bit of due diligence would’ve been great from Celebrity in the cabin allocation and we could have been near our family and the kids would have been near theirs it would of been a better trip for sure. But overall a lovely ship and I’m sure it will look perfect in March although I thought she was lovely as she was .

We had a lovely trip in Asia on the Solstice. It’s definitely showing signs of age but the crew keep it looking as good as possible! I know it’s due a dry dock soon and hope they drastically change both the sky observation lounge as it lacked atmosphere as well as the venue they do karaoke in which also looks terribly dated. Food was excellent and we loved Le Petit Chef. All crew were exceptional throughout- felt very well cared for

Restaurant staff excellent. Special mention for Kennichi