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The brand new Celebrity Solstice is about to undertake her maiden season in the Caribbean. Without question she is the most eagerly anticipated cruise ship in a long time, she promises to be so different to anything else afloat at the moment. With that in mind, and to give you all a flavour of what you can expect, Celebrity Cruises has invited regular www.cruise.co.uk contributors, Neil and Ida Down on board for a few days, so they can tell you all about this amazing Cruise ship. Neil and Ida Down are not employed or related in any way to www.cruise.co.uk and all opinions etc are there own.

Day one

''What do you expect when you visit a new ship... some inovations for sure, some ideas that over take the usual systems but what you do not expect is a totally different environment with brilliant inovations everywhere but that's the immediate reaction to Solstice. From the time you see the twin inline funnels you are aware that the design team have stripped the plans to the bare bones and just tried to make a brand new exciting, clean, clever ship. It doesn't matter where you look from the newly designed elevator/lift entrances to the bed raised just those few  extra inches so that even enormous suitcases will now fit under them, they have gone to town. If you had a complaint before about somethings not working or being ergonomically wrong , it's been fixed on Solstice.

Ida and I entered through the normal channels of US security effortlessly and strolled up the gangway to be greeted with the customary glass of champagne and on to the cabin, a balcony cabin on 9 Deck. The first surprise is that the cabin door opens outwards leaving just that more space in the cabin. The cabin doesn't have straight walls but still gives the feeling of being large enough. What has happened in fact is that with the adjustment of area is to enhance the drawer, cupboard and general space. So lots more storage space and where the intrusion has happened in our cabin we have been compensated by the addition of space in the bathroom which is now so well designed that it has got to be, for its standard, one of the best designed and spacious bathroom afloat with loads of cupbards and shelves a beautiful modern raised basin and a round shower with no problems for even the most corpulent to turn. One negative Ida pointed out to me is that is they have dispensed with the traditional clothes line in the shower, so nowhere to hang washed smalls, a minor point but worth saying.

Going back to the original theme it is so full of the "Wow" factor that you just hear that word being said all over the ship. The Atrium with a tree planted half way up in the air, the really wonderfully elaborate illuminations in the main restaurant and bars, the wall of water and light, the lawned area on the top deck and the superbly set up Ocean View cafeteria area which is so polished and planned that it makes you stand and stare trying to take it all in and in true Celebrity style the food is wonderful.

Tonight we are to try one of the new speciality restaurants of which I think there are five so no chance on this trip to try them all but it certainly makes returning an interesting prospect. We are enjoying this so much that, as with so many things we don't want it to stop. Time has just vanished but we promise another edition tomorrow.''

Day two

Hello - this is Ida taking over from Neil, as a man he has not seen the finer things in the cabin like the lighting above the mirrors which has made it so easy to do my make up, the telephone by the bed has a clock incorporated in it which at night acts as a nightlight and is great should you need a midnight excursion to the bathroom and the mattress and pillows which ; excuse this, are a dream.  The other thing to mention is the flat screen tv no longer angled in that awkward corner but flat to the wall opposite the settee.  One super feature of it is that you can pause a film you're watching for upto 24 hours so unlike the past when you had to end your watching to do to dinner or what ever you can pause it and finish off later.

Last night we dined in one of the speciality restuarants called the Silk Harvest.  The food included specialities from throughout the Far East.  The menu was broken into sections of small plates and large ones and the sushi  but the selection  was good and it was difficult to choose so our table of 6 compromised with the head waiters suggestion of several of the favourites on the table and we will all dipped in to make for a great dining  and the conversation flows because everyone is involved with the meal.

They had a very good stage show with the full cast singing and dancing their hearts out.  One more thing - the seting of the theatre which hold 1000 people was similar to the normal setting but there were very few points where the view was interrupted and the stage comes closer to the audience.  Apparently we have some very modern aerial mmechanisms which will include all the usual aerial work but also allow performers to swoop around over the audience.

Their were various other acts and musicians performing in other areas throughout the ship making strolling around so pleasant.

I haven't dealt with the outside o the ship yet mainly because I haven't been able to cover all of the insdie yet - there is so much.

We are currently positioned somewhere neat the bahamas and the ship is vibrating some what.  The captain is fine timing this ultra modern equipment which allows the ship to remain unanchored in a specfic spot  and the equipment allows the thrusters to keep the ship stationary in the one position with no adjustments.

I have left Ida sunning on  well cushioned deck chair under a new style chair or cabana on the upper decks - just another innovation . One deck down the pool deck has 2 pools and a forever changing display of 32 synchronised fountains. Forward of that we have the solarium with yet more water fountain displays with lights and a water fall background.

Time for dinner.

Back home

We have used a large number of superlatives, and quite rightly so in these blog pages but it was difficult not to. There are things that need changing but they are few and far between and the fine tuning will be easily done. We still can’t get over the feeling of walking on grass on a ship but it gives the feeling of walking along the grassy banks of an esplanade or high over the beaches in many coastal resorts, down below there are so many twists and turns each revealing something new, a modern yet strangely retro disco/club room, extra dining alcoves, for grazing more than serious eating, the statutory Celebrity Martini bar but this time with a bar counter smoothly made of flat ice and artwork to keep the senses intrigued and fascinated. It would take a week to explore and even then you’d miss something.

Just to make you guys and gals even more envious we were treated like royalty whilst we were there and to heap coals on the fire we met many of the Celebrity team and they were just delightful. Cruise.co.uk’s Sukie, of course, is an angel and was involved in so much but she still found time to laugh at my jokes, bless! The Celebrity team are so thrilled with this ground-breaking ship and really believe that this is a major turning point not only in the life of Celebrity but also of cruising itself and in our humble opinions we think they are right to feel this way. The whole time we spent onboard there was this air of elation, satisfaction and pride and we know that this feeling will grow as more ships come on stream. When you look at what is out there and look at this new product, as one of the guys put it, this feels like the start of a new era and Ida and I will be able to look back and say, “We were there”. Just you wait and see, it’s starting……. Neil and Ida Down, 15-Nov-08