Enjoyable Overall, But Onboard Prices Extortionate
Enjoyable overall, but onboard prices extortionate |
12 of 13 people found this review informative
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Reviewed By: norman, Stoke On Trent on 1st Dec 2011
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| Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises |
Times cruised before: 6-10 |
| Cruise Ship: Celebrity Solstice |
Sailed:
October,
2011 |
| Destination:
Mediterranean
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Age: 65+ |
| Cabin: Balcony |
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We enjoyed the cruise, lucky with the weather considering time of year, sunny in Venice tho cool, only rained in Dubrovnik.
Went to Cannes instead of Villefranche which was a bonus.
The ship was very clean but still had a virus on board and the Ocean View buffet had to be hand served by the staff.
Difficult to see how they could improve things further tho some people did try and avoid the hand sanitisers. Buffets are prone to abuse by their very nature.
We flew to Barca to embark all went well until the return journey, you have to go via Amsterdam and therefore change planes.
Naturally one,(Air France), was late and the connection missed, took us 15hrs to get back home from the v early set out from the ship to arriving home in Cheshire. Never again, can't for the life of me see why there are no direct flights from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
Felt like I needed a good holiday when we eventually arrived home
The ship itself had plusses and minuses, the on board prices are ludicrous, $26 plus 15% for the cheapest bottle of wine.
Can't understand this policy, they didn't sell a lot by looking round the nearby tables.
We had the occasional glass and the sommelier poured it out like it was liquid gold, hardly half filled the glasses for $6 + 15%.
Just had a bottle of Becks instead and paid about $6 for that!
It was a very sober cruise for us.
The Epernay restaurant could only be described as average.Some nice steaks but the sparse vegetables were usually cold
The starters and sweets were nothing special either with fairly limited choice.
Our waiter was excellent,(Omar), the table of 8 worked out very well for us.
The speciality restaurants were surcharged excessively and we didn't use any of them.
The Ocean View was very spacious for a cruise ship buffet, we thought it was good overall.
The excursions were a total rip off and we made our own way apart from Rome.
They charged for shuttle buses from the ship to the destinations, for example they charged $22 pp in Venice for a one day pass and $36pp if you went in both days.
The entertainment was OK, the Solstice company were v good, especially the acrobatics.
Overall it was good cruise, decent ship but the extra prices for everything left a bad taste, seems to me a short sighted policy on behalf of Celebrity.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Epernay bit disappointing, expected better, good is a fair rating
Buffet good | | Entertainment |  |
| | Shore Excursions |  |
| Prices excessive | | Staff |  |
| OMAR - Table waiter - excellent | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | n/a |
| | Cabins |  |
| Very clean, Johnny looked after us well | | Overall Rating |  |
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