The Food and Beverages

TO PACKAGE OR NOT TO PACKAGE...THAT WAS MY QUESTION
* some of the photos in my blog have been copied from Celebrity website as well as other places on the internet, my intent is not to steal anyone's work, so I'm saying that some photos are much better than I could have taken and I wanted to show you the beauty that is the Celebrity Solstice.*


When I made our reservation with Celebrity they were running the Pick Your Perk Promotion, we could have gotten #1 - our gratuities paid for, or #2 - an on board credit, or #3 - the "Classic Beverage Package" which has a value of $343.00 per person for the entire cruise.  Gratuities are $12.00 per person per day, so for the length of the cruise would have been $168.00.  And the onboard credit I think was around $100.00 per person. So we decided on the "Classic Beverage Package" which gave us the following unlimited for free for the length of our cruise, this is why it's nice to have a travel agent because we will check with the cruise lines to see what promotions they are running when you decide on your vacation cruise:

Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta Orange and Coke Zero, fresh squeezed and bottled juices, premium coffees and teas, non-premium bottled water, premium bottled water from Evian, Perrier and San Pellegrino, non-alcoholic frozen drinks and smoothies, Red Bull Energy Drink and specialty waters from Vitamin Water.  All beer up to $6 per serving, spirits, cocktails, and frozen drinks up to $8 per serving, and wine by the glass up to $9 per serving. Plus,  a 15% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even the prized Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list. 

*And if you are not aware, when you purchase any beverage onboard a 15% gratuity is automatically added to your bill so you don't ever have to tip while on board.  This 15% gratuity was included in the package*

Just think all of the above that you can drink for the entire 7 days.  Unlimited lattes, vitamin water, orange juice, Red Bull, Perrier - unlimited for the length of your cruise, now add onto that wine by the glass, pina coladas, lava flows, etc.......so worth it to us.

 The day we got onboard we decided to upgraded our package to their Premium Package (cost is $59.00 per person per day), it cost us  $ 80.50 per person, BUT when you add it up and realize that for $ 161.00 total we got all of the above unlimited PLUS:

  The entire selection of Beers as well as Spirits, Cocktails and Wines by the Glass up to $13 per serving. Plus, a 20% discount on all wines by the bottle purchased on board, even the Reserve Wine list and Rare Wine list.  

    We got an $ 826.00 value for only $ 161.00   SWEET !

GRAND EPERNAY RESTAURANT

I know the deck plan is a little hard to see but I wanted to get it all in here,  the "main dining room" is a two story area located aft (rear of the ship) on decks 3 and 4.   If you have ever watched Bravo TV  Top Chef you may want to keep your eyes out for the next select Celebrity sailings that feature some of the contestants from the show.  Our sailing did not have them on it, but they did have Top Chef menu's in the main dining room.  And they had a little quick fire Top Chef challenges in the main lobby area for us to watch.

 Some of the Entree Features from the main dining room included:  Home Style Pork Chop, Cedar Plank Grilled Cobia Black Salmon, Veal Cordon Bleu, Roasted Leg of Lamb, Oven Roasted Chicken Saltimbocca, Slow Braised Lamb wrapped in Phyllo.  The appetizers and deserts were wonderful as well.  I have to admit that the food on Celebrity is top notch, EVEN in the main dining room which is sometimes a let down for cruisers.  The main dining rooms have a huge challenge serving so many guests at once and making the dinners fresh as if custom ordered.

OCEANVIEW CAFE  

OK....first let me say that I am a buffet-aholic.  I adore them, especially on cruise ships.  So many choices and all looks delicious.  That was the case here and I loved it.  From the breakfast to mid day snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner AND late night munchie snacks all were great.

                                                                                               

 

One of the fun things that cracked us up every time was when you enter the Oceanview Cafe there are staff there with a huge jar of "purell" and they say "good morning washy washy"..........Dan always carries a little purell with him so every time I would want some I would hold out my hand and say "washy washy".  Always got a smile out of him. 

 There could always be found the best chocolate cookies here in the cafe and yes, we visited the cookie bar several times during the cruise. haha

AQUA SPA CAFE

We passed this cafe a few times during the cruise
but there was always someone standing there, quite
the popular spot so we didn't get a smoothie from
here.

MAST GRILL  

Here at the Mast Grill it was hot dogs and hamburgers weather permitting, just let me say that our weather was not permitting at all !  This is what it would look like on a good warm Caribbean Day.  But Alaska had other plans for my danged hot dogs, I finally found them inside at the Oceanview Cafe.  Still delicious but there's nothing like a good hot steamy hot dog on a chilly day. 

  BISTRO ON FIVE

 This was one of my absolute favorite spots.  And the table on the right side at the window is the table we liked so the waiter would see us come in, remembered we liked it and 'viola' it became "ours".  

I do have to say here that if you are friendly to the staff and give them a "good morning" or "hi, how's your day going so far?" they remember that, they appreciate that and they will acknowledge that!
 
It was never crowded which amazes me since the food was so super delicious, I think we just hit it at the right times.  They serve soups, paninis and crepes.




See the crepe below?  I told you, they taste as amazing as they look.  They have breakfast ones, lunch ones and my favorite -  dessert ones.  There is a $ 5.00 cover charge per person for this restaurant.
And just let me say very well worth it !

 
CAFE al BACIO & GELATERIA

Oh yes they did.  They have the best coffee bar I've seen in a while.  Always smiling, always ready to serve and delicious.  You could either take it to go or sit down and watch the waves while they come to your table to serve you.  Needless to say this was our first stop in the morning....and a few afternoons when espresso was necessary.

All of the little pastries are complimentary here at the Bacio.  The Gelato was just across from here.  But for some reason there were not a lot of gelato fans on this ship.  There was never a wait.

Remember that if you don't purchase a drink package there will be a charge for the coffee's and gelato.

SPECIALTY DINING

Yes in the specialty dining venues there is a cover charge, at  
Silk Harvest - Asian Cuisine  $ 30.00 per person.

We ate there and the sushi was phenom.  We took a chance and let the waitress bring us what she liked best from the menu and wow she has excellent taste.  Of course saki was on the table and yes I got a little tipsy so between the ship moving and my saki it was an interesting walk back to the stateroom.  We did eat here one night because we are kinda sushi freaks, at least once a week if not more, so we never pass it up if we see it.  Lucky for us this restaurant was here huh?

Murano - 
Contemporary French Cuisine the cover charge is $ 45.00 per person.  To tell you the truth with Dan traveling so much to Montreal I get French cuisine any time I want it so we skipped this restaurant.  I do know though from talking to the guests they were quite impressed.

Tuscan Grille - Italian Steakhouse the cover charge is $ 35.00 per person.  Very appealing, diverse menu and excellent cuts of steak. 

There is a lot of debate on cruise ships now about main dining vs specialty.  My personal...and I mean personal.....opinion is this.  I'm on a cruise to experience entertainment, ports, ship and fellow passengers.  If I need a "fine dining" experience I can get that at home.  Especially on Celebrity there really is no need to spend the extra dollars because  the food and menu in the main dining room is excellent.  Plus in the main dining room you can choose to share a table with other passengers or just have a romantic dinner for two.  Or in our case we got a table for two and next to us sat a family consisting of grandparents, parents, sons, daughters and spouses and one fantastically entertaining grand son.  This boy who wasn't even one year old had Dan and I laughing all thru dinner, he was bright, funny, absolutely adorable and so well behaved.  His name is Phinnegan (yes they are Irish) and we looked forward to seeing him each night.  We would run into him on the ship and in ports.  The family was warm and welcoming and really enhanced our dinners.

 

Stay tuned, Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau is up next !

Ketchikan

Ketchikan.  This city is known as the "Salmon Capital of the World" and although we did not fish we did see a ton of salmon.   It also has the worlds largest collection of standing totem poles (which is an excursion you can take to experience them, as well as lumberjack shows and fishing trips).  It's climate is known as an "oceanic climate" which basically means it's like living in Scotland or Northern Ireland, cool although with much more rain.  The average highs the whole time we were in Alaska was around 65* with the lows in the lower 40*'s, average rainfall in Ketchikan is over 153" per year.

Their downtown area is fairly compact an easily walkable.  However, the day we were there it was raining and so windy that it was pretty miserable so after our float plane tour we walked a few blocks and headed back to the ship for warmth, wine and food.

It is set in the southern most entrance to the famous Inside Passage of Alaska.

There are literally thousands of waterfalls in Alaska.  All of the photos you will see in my Travel Diary here are all taken by Dan or myself unless otherwise stated.  Of course you will be able to tell the professional ones taken of us on the ship.

Our ride for the morning is a float plane, we decided to use a company called Shore Trips (which you can find on my website www.mycruisegirl.com) to book our first excursion in our first port,  the trip consisted of a short bus ride to their office where we boarded a plane that sat only 4 (plus the pilot, shore trips only takes a few people on their excursions at a time so it is always a good idea when using them to reserve your excursions early as they may just fill up, they run several a day but if you want to get your perfect time then do it quickly)  he took us to a stream where there were known black bears, we did see one but the rest must have been sleeping.  Also he flew us around to see the area and we did manage to see a family of grizzly bears, but we were too high up to get any good photos.  He landed and let us stand on the floats to watch the salmon, and then at the next area we landed he drug the plane towards the shore and we walked around looking for Eagles.

Yes this is misty rain, for the most part in Alaska that is all we got, daily rain and cold winds.

From inside our float plane.

In our float plane skimming the water.

This is where we were watching the salmon jump, I was standing on the flats of the plane.

This is the salmon hatchery where our little black bear was sneaking in for some lunch.

Our little bear trying to sneak into the salmon hatchery to catch some fish.

Our pilot landed close to the shore, got out and pulled the plane in so we wouldn't get our feet wet !

Dan standing on the slippery rocks Bear Hunting 

From high above, such a beautiful view.

This is our family of grizzly bears, see in the center by the stream?  I know we were up too high, but they were easily visible by us, just not so much the camera.

 

A lighthouse on our way out of Ketchikan

All aboard again sailing away from Ketchikan.  View from our balcony stateroom.

                                                                                There are literally thousands of water falls in Alaska, we took a lot of photos but I think this one is the best.  I do have to say Dan was a wiz with the camera, he got some great shots.

Back on the ship we hit up the casino for a few spins on Sex and the City and the Hangover. 

  Then we caught the disco empty as not everyone was home yet.  Anywhere you walked in the ship though there was music playing.  Several duo's and trio's throughout the ship.  And usually a couple dancing to the tunes. 

The Daily, our first night on Celebrity Solstice, and Sea Day

So remember I told you about this neat little "newspaper" they leave in your room every night called Celebrity Today?  I'm going to give you an overview of what it entails.

It gives you cool information like what day it is, what time sunrise and sunset is, what the weather is going to be AND lists all the cool things to do while onboard.  I always take my Daily everywhere with me, even while on the ship.  This way I don't miss anything.

Here lists all activities for the day and evening

 AND huge tip here - the last page lists the Hours of Operation for the Bar, The Art Gallery, Spa, Guest Relations, Photo Gallery, Pools, Shops & Boutiques, etc.  Also it has the list of restaurants, their times and what they serve as in breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, etc.  As you can see there is a variety of entertainment all day and night, so that you should never be bored.

And NO we didn't do everything, remember this was the cruise that I was taking my husband on so that he could relax, unwind and try to rest.  He did take his computer and work during the days some, and we did a lot of walking the ship, went to the gym and sat on our balcony looking for whales.  So overall he did relax somewhat but the best part was I had him contained for 7 days all to myself.  It was bliss.

Even when you are out and about in town - we had a couple recognize us from the ship and asked if we had our Daily with us, they couldn't remember what time something was and wanted to be back on the ship so as not to miss it.  Just so happened I had mine and they were very happy.


A real cool thing on this ship was the Hot Glass Show, Celebrity has partnered with  Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York and they give demonstrations of their excellent techniques.  They did two shows a day so there was no reason to miss it.  Phenomenal, they explain everything as they are doing it and at the end of the cruise they auction off their pieces to raise money for their causes.

Each day they display the pieces they have made the day before, it's truly a show not to be missed. Here is a link to some information.

Corning Hot Glass Show on select Celebrity ships

Dan relaxing on the Lawn Club, Deck 15 next to the Glass Blowing area.







As the evening winds down we decide to head inside and explore.


Yes it's just the two of us on our cruise, but we decided when we got onboard to upgrade our beverage package to the "premium" which for one price per day gave us wine, cocktails, coffee, tea, juice all included.  So we hit up the Martini Bar which has a shaved ice top so we entertained ourselves until dinner by drawing in the 'snow'.  There was music everywhere to be enjoyed and the show was great.  Dinner in the main dining room was excellent.  I will have to say that Celebrity has really good food, not one complaint from either one of us.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the food..........

Part II - Sail Away

 Welcome Aboard !

We found our stateroom and started to unpack when the Emergency Lifeboat Drill alert sounded at 4:15pm.  All are expected to attend.  I know that so many of you say "oh I'll just hide in my room" well let me tell you something Buster you better hope you are not on my ship trying to out run the crew because they check you in as you come to your Muster Station and they wait, and wait and WAIT until all are present before they start.  I will not hesitate to listen for your name "Mr. and Mrs. Selfish does not seem to be present!" And I will hunt you down and drag you back to that Muster Station by the hair for frittering away my Cruise-Time.

I had my mimosa in one hand and my Celebrity Today in the other.  Determined not to waste a minute.  Celebrity Today is called different things on different ships, the most noted term for those in the know is simply "Daily" it is a nice booklet of all the things they have scheduled for you to experience, with a pull out for shore excursions and other little tidbits. I will talk more on this later. Your stateroom steward puts one on your bed every night when he so lovingly turns down your covers, fluffs your pillows and gently places a tiny piece of chocolate on that freshly fluffed pillow.  Ok, I'm not sure about the rest of the crew but our Steward "Enuncio" did just that he was a joy every day, always a smile, always a cheery "good morning".

Back to our stateroom, we had 1007 which was on Deck 10, Sky Deck, Concierge Stateroom, Port side (left) and from our balcony we could see the bridge.

 They had even put a pair of binoculars, a large and small umbrella in our stateroom for our use while onboard.  As well as two big fluffy white robes.  Flat screen tv (complete with the first NFL game) ample closet and over the bed storage, in closet safe also.  Another suggestion = pack some hangers, there are quite a few but not enough.  Our luggage (one large and two carry on sized) fit nicely under the bed. Yeah our luggage lived with a few pair of Dan's socks we found on the last day. You can see on our bed is a tote bag and the first "Daily"



The bathroom was very well appointed and ladies, yes there was a foot bar in the shower for shaving your legs.  A must on all cruise ships as far as I'm concerned.  I enjoyed having a shower door too, some lines only have curtains, but being in a Concierge Stateroom this was a little upgrade.  The "amenities" were great.  Shampoo and conditioner in larger than normal hotel size bottles.  Plus body wash and body lotion, all smelled great and worked wonderfully.  Towels had a luxury feel to them also.  There was an outlet in the ceiling area by the light which worked well for my phone.  As you know outlets in staterooms are few and far between, I suggest you pack a power strip to help with all of your devices. 


Another really cool thing we had in this category stateroom was a bottle of champagne waiting for us when we arrived - complete with two champagne glasses.  There were also fresh apples in the room every day and each afternoon a little treat was left, olives, hummus, chips, cheese, all was delicious.

 
 And here I am on our balcony reading my Daily.  I told you I was obsessed with planning and information.  Dan had opened the champagne, we had unpacked and we watched in comfort as we sailed from Seattle, Washington.

                           






Our itinerary was as follows: 
August 29th depart Seattle, Washington. 
August 30th  all day at Sea. 
August 31st Ketchikan, Alaska. 
September 1st Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska (cruising thru) Juneau, Alaska. 
September 2nd Skagway, Alaska. 
September 3rd all day at Sea. 
September 4th Victoria, B.C. Canada. 
September 5th Seattle, Washington.                                                                                                             

Good Bye Seattle..........Hello Alaska !

To be continued.......................

ALASKA.........!!!!!

For all of you that know my amazing husband Dan (yes I said it, the adjective may differ by the day) you know his job keeps him on the move so when I say "honey let's go somewhere" he looks at me like I'm crazy "another hotel room another restaurant".....that sort of thing.

To my amazement at the beginning of this year he said "you know if I go on another cruise I'd like it to be Alaska..."  took me all of 5 seconds to whip out my computer and start the part of traveling I love the most which is PLANNING.   Since I had heard but not experienced the new "Modern Luxury" that is Celebrity Cruise Line, a line that goes to over 72 Countries, has over 250 ports of call, it's a foodie paradise, plush accommodations, Canyon Ranch Spa, The Lawn Club, scented bath products, aromatherapy, ......oh sorry I just get so thrilled and excited when I think of them I got a little carried away.

I decided on the alluring Celebrity Solstice cruising a 7 night Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord Cruise.  Now I know a little of geography but a real life Fjord? That long narrow inlet with steep cliffs created by glacial erosion.  Not in a ton of years did I think I'd ever see one, this was the Alaska adventure for us I just knew it.  My heart was set on it and I began telling Dan all the fun things we would do and see.  We decided to fly to Seattle the day prior to our cruise (August 29th thru September 5th) and have a nice leisurely dinner, a good night sleep and take our time the next morning boarding the ship.

Celebrity made our boarding process very easy by giving us a letter of explanation and direction with timing to arrive based on the stateroom we had chosen.  Our time was 11:30am (but of course you can check in earlier or later you just may have to stand in line a tad) and true to their word we breezed through.

A couple of tips here, we checked our Passports to make sure we were not within 6 months of the expiration date when we decided on this cruise.  I would recommend everyone that wants to take a cruise apply for a passport, it's simple and a form of identification cruise lines request.  I completed my Celebrity Online check-in an filled out our embarkation forms a few days after making our reservation and I read every piece of information Celebrity put on their website to familiarize myself with their procedures, look at shore excursions and deck plans, found our room location, etc.

After showing our Express Pass and our passports (along with our drivers license as a second form of Photo ID) they took our photo, handed us our Sea Card (which acts as your stateroom key as well as onboard charge card) and showed us the way to the ship complete with big smiles and lots of "welcome aboard" wishes.

Our Departure was at 5:00pm and our stateroom was not ready so we hit up the OceanView Cafe for an early lunch sample which was delicious.  We then looked for the solarium, theater, casino, etc basically becoming familiar with the stairs and elevators we would use constantly on our wonderful 7 Night voyage.

I do know though that my love for travel radiates from me so that I tend to unaffectedly go on for - freakin' -ever.  At this point I will stop  my Part I.  I have a bountiful amount of news to share with you, photos to show you, information on daily activities the ship offers so I'll continue with part II - our stateroom and first day at sea tomorrow.