Ernie

Solstice Preview Event Photos

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[ 07-13-2008: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

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Originally posted by YoShip:
Solstice floats since more than a month already....

Greetings,
YoShip.

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That is all fine and dandy, but this is the first pic I have seen. If there are others you would like to share from a month ago please do.

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Originally posted by eroller:

That is all fine and dandy, but this is the first pic I have seen. If there are others you would like to share from a month ago please do.

Ernie

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You might want to look into this thread:
06-13-2008
First pic shows Solstices floating...

YoShip.

[ 07-13-2008: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

I have to say I am very impressed with the "newness" Celebrity is bringing to the decor onboard and I LOVE the various China and Crystal place settings. It really looks like Celebrity is putting a lot of thought into this ship.

Already it feels like a sophicticated, cultural experience.

Impressive and exciting.

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Originally posted by eroller:
Pardon me if I was sailing on QV at the time and missed the thread. Also, are your smart-ass comments really necessary? If you don't agree with something fine. Leave it at that. Ernie

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I forgot to add my 'Welcome Back's to the list on your return thread from the Queen Victoria and rather enjoyed your comments and reviews of her. Thanks for sharing!

I think Celebrity 'missed the boat' when they created this mystical cruise line nobody seems to have heard of. They should have just incorporated the two ships into their regular fleet and sent them to Bermuda in the Summer, the South Pacific and/or Hawaii/Mexican Riviera in the Winter.

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Originally posted by dmwnc1:

I forgot to add my 'Welcome Back's to the list on your return thread from the Queen Victoria and rather enjoyed your comments and reviews of her. Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks! I quite enjoyed QV, much more than I expected. The ship (on the inside) is really quite unique and charming. The outside of course is pretty much standard Vista. Norway was just spectacular and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to take the trip.

Some space recently opened on QE2's final Westbound transatlantic crossing (October 10) so I booked a cabin. I have a week to decide so I'm seriously considering it.

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Originally posted by eroller:
Some space recently opened on QE2's final Westbound transatlantic crossing (October 10) so I booked a cabin. I have a week to decide so I'm seriously considering it.Ernie

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Never pass up an opportunity to cruise, especially if its a 'last' one. I remember passing up the 'Final" TransAtlantic on Norway (turned out it wasnt, of course), 13-nights if I remember correctly, in an Inside Stateroom for $399.00!!!, and like the eeeediot I was went for another ship. Huge mistake.

Sorry, that I have bothered you. This will not happen again.
No more inside-Meyer news from me.

I cancel my membership to this site.

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Originally posted by dmwnc1:

Never pass up an opportunity to cruise, especially if its a 'last' one. I remember passing up the 'Final" TransAtlantic on Norway (turned out it wasnt, of course), 13-nights if I remember correctly, in an Inside Stateroom for $399.00!!!, and like the eeeediot I was went for another ship. Huge mistake.

Between Celebrity SOLSTICE and Oasis of the Seas I rather prefer the former. I still cant wait to see how the plots of grass work out. And did they ever decide onh what color to paint the funnels? Are they going to be dark blue or baby blue like OOTS?

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Thats too bad about missing the NORWAY crossing. I'm kicking myself for that one as well, and what a fantastic price!

My problem is time. I have this full time job that really gets in the way. I love my job but wish I had more time off. When I was a flight attendant I didn't love the job so much, but I loved all the time off. I sure do miss that flexibility.

I agree with you that I also think I will prefer SOLSTICE over OASIS. Although SOLSTICE is huge, it's more on a human scale compared to OASIS. Right now OASIS is a bit overwhelming to me. While amazing, I have to wonder if I will feel a bit anxious onboard while I try to experience all the great amenities and attractions. Will it be just too many people to manage? None the less I can't wait to sail on her at least once and maybe more depending on how that goes.

So I'm leaning towards confirming this QE2 crossing. I have a friend from Atlanta who is already booked, and of course there are a lot of ship fanatics booked who I have sailed with in the past. It would be a fantastic experience.

Ernie

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Originally posted by eroller:

Thats too bad about missing the NORWAY crossing. I'm kicking myself for that one as well, and what a fantastic price!

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It was not a fantastic price for Brits, but i'm so glad that I went!

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Originally posted by YoShip:
Thanks for your replies.

Sorry, that I have bothered you. This will not happen again.
No more inside-Meyer news from me.

I cancel my membership to this site.

YoShip.

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It is always a shame to loose any member of CT that can provide reliable and timely information, especially someone who may be able to provide so called 'inside' information. Even members like myself who have no technical expertise but can offer up only opinions, experiences, and ideas, are valued. I never quite understood why a society of well educated and experienced afficienados such as we are can not be more civil towards each other. Sure we all loose our temper and say things we do not mean, are quick to type out verbal punches and jabs, and bicker like we are in a school yard fight, but we go back and apologize, take it like a man (or woman), and move on. I am sorry that you were offended. We sometimes have to 'correct' each other to keep us in-line because in todays modern society it is much easier to say and do things to each other online that we as a civil society would never consider doing to each other face to face. These days common courtesy and civility seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur.

I would hope that you would reconsider your 'membership' to CT and rejoin our little family. Every one of us is valuable in maintaining, updating, and supplying insider details and personal experiences, ideas and ideals that keeps this river of information constantly flowing to each other.

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Originally posted by eroller:
Solstice Preview Event Photos

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Very nice. Celebrity has seemed to me to be "lost" for a long time now, but obviously an enormous amount of effort is going into upgrading the product along with these new ships. (Whether this is the right time to be building five huge, expensive new ships is another matter entirely....)

The menus, place settings etc. all look very nice. This main course from the Blu menu is a bit puzzling though:

"Roasted Airline Chicken Breast, Lentil Blini, Wilted Spinach & Tomato-Garlic Emulsion"

I assume that is either a typo or "airline" has some definition I'm not aware of - most chicken I have had on airlines has not been anything to boast about!

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Originally posted by Jekyll:
Too bad they cannot do to Azamara what they've been able to do with both Oasis and Solstice - bring some excitement and interest to the product.

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I think Azamara was an enormous misstep. I am convinced it only exists because RCCL management wanted to "get back at" Oceania for selling out to Apollo and not RCCL. In the end I think RCCL will have lost quite a bit of cash on that little venture - no surprise to me.

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Originally posted by dmwnc1:
I think Celebrity 'missed the boat' when they created this mystical cruise line nobody seems to have heard of. They should have just incorporated the two ships into their regular fleet and sent them to Bermuda in the Summer, the South Pacific and/or Hawaii/Mexican Riviera in the Winter.

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Azamara was a bad idea from the start... It has gone exactly the way I expected it to go and I am just waiting for the announcement that RCCL is pulling the plug.

Look at Princess, it seems to do very nicely with these ships in its own fleet (though I really liked the idea - seriously considered - of giving them to Cunard).

As for Bermuda, if Azamara or Celebrity was offering cruises to Bermuda this summer I would probably be on one. As it is the only choice was NCL and somehow sailing on a mega-ship to King's Wharf doesn't really hold the same appeal. But an "R" ship to Bermuda, or even CENTURY... Sign me up! Hell, I'd even take ZENITH again, even though she was getting seriously worn out cosmetically. Or NORWEGIAN CROWN. Or really anything doing the traditional NY-Bermuda run... Well maybe not NORWEGIAN SEA which did it for a time, but she is about my absolute least favorite ship!

My parents didn't want to travel far this summer, my friends can't afford to, and I didn't want to go anywhere alone... In the end we just decided to stay home since none of the options from NYC or any of the east coast ports were appealing.

[ 07-13-2008: Message edited by: dougnewman ]

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Originally posted by dougnewman:

"Roasted Airline Chicken Breast, Lentil Blini, Wilted Spinach & Tomato-Garlic Emulsion"

I assume that is either a typo or "airline" has some definition I'm not aware of - most chicken I have had on airlines has not been anything to boast about!

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No, this is not a typo. In fact it's a term that is making a comeback regarding a specific "cut" of poultry.

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Airline chicken
Airline chicken can be several things, depending upon who you talk to. It can be a fancy cut, a special presentation, or a negative appelation directed at inflight foodservice. The airline connection? Again, several theories. These range from practical (chicken travels well, this cut of chicken fits neatly into an airline tray/dish compartments) to artistic (it "looks" like it's about to take off).

"Chicken had been a mainstay for inflight foodservice since foods were first offered to passengers in the 1930s. Fried chicken was one of the few foods that could be held hot over long time periods and still be of an acceptable quality. Prepared other ways, chicken still held up much better than many other protein products such as beef or pork. It could be cooked, held, chilled, frozen, rethermalized and still be tender and moist if properly cooked and plated. Idle Wild farms' development of the oven-ready stuffed rock cornish game hen brought product consistency and a gourmet quality to the use of poultry products for inflight meals."
---Inflight Catering Management, Audrey C. McCool [John Wiley & Sons:New York] 1995 (p. 36)

According to the National Chicken Council "The term "airline chicken breast" first became popular in the 1960s when major commercial airlines included full service meals on air flights that were of sufficient length/time to serve such meals. Airlines required a relatively small breast portion for a number of reasons and kept part of the wing on to give a presentation that made the serving portion appear to be bigger than it actually was and also to give it a certain differentiation from the non-airline breast. It was and still is a relatively costly product. My guess is a chef on PanAm or similar top airline developed the concept and other airlines quickly followed. Few, if any, domestic airlines still have "meals" that include "airline chicken breasts." Some caterers have this type of product for special occasion events. The Council adds: "The term "airline chicken" goes back a long way. It used to be called a "hotel cut.""

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In regards to Azamara, I agree with some of what you said but not all. I'm not certain the line was created "just" to get back at Oceania. Royal Caribbean (and Carnival for that matter) obviously realized that Oceania discovered an untapped market. Both tried to acquire the Oceania and failed, and in the case of RCCL they decided to create their own line. They already had the perfect hardware which was meant to compliment the existing Oceania fleet. Was Azamara hastily done? Absolutely. RCCL will even admit this. None the less they are trying emulate the success of Oceania with limited success of their own. Frankly I think one reason Azamara is not more successful is because RCCL is simply spread too thin. Two new proto-type ships are to be introduced (OASIS and SOLSTICE). This alone must take an enormous amount of man power. Pulmantur is a recent purchase and now there is TUI and a new French cruise line. Azamara has not received the focus it should have. It sort of fizzled after a lackluster start. In the case of Oceania they have been able to allocate 100% of their resources into Oceania, and that is one reason for the success.

I do give RCCL credit for going out on a limb to create something, even a brand new cruise line. This is something Carnival Corp. generally does not do, create. They simply acquire then refine which is much easier than creating something from scratch. The one line they did create, Fiesta Marina was a complete disaster. Carnival plays it safe which has worked extremely well for them. I'm just glad not every cruise line does.

Ernie

[ 07-13-2008: Message edited by: eroller ]

As for Azamara, if Royal Caribbean thought it could beat Oceania at its own game it was rather silly.

Even if Azamara hadn't been done hastily, I still think it would have been a failure. Even if everything had come off perfectly, the end result would have been an exact clone of Oceania. But what would an exact clone of an existing cruise line have accomplished? Why would anyone choose Azamara over Oceania to begin with, if the two were identical but Oceania was an established brand and Azamara wasn't? If Azamara was going to work it would have had to have been different than Oceania in some significant way. (I'm not even going to say better, just different.) Imagine if someone managed to make a perfect copy of a Lexus, but sell it under a new name nobody had heard of, for the same exact price as a Lexus. Why would anyone buy it?

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Originally posted by dougnewman:
Carnival hasn't done much to advance ship design, but it has been enormously creative in just about everything other than ship design.

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Really. Like what? Besides being partially responsible for creating the casual cruising concept for the masses, and of course the "Fun Ship" slogan, I'm not sure how Carnival has been "enormously creative"? I guess you could call their market domination by acquisition creative, but what else?

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Originally posted by dougnewman:

As for Azamara, if Royal Caribbean thought it could beat Oceania at its own game it was rather silly.

Even if Azamara hadn't been done hastily, I still think it would have been a failure. Even if everything had come off perfectly, the end result would have been an exact clone of Oceania. But what would an exact clone of an existing cruise line have accomplished? Why would anyone choose Azamara over Oceania to begin with, if the two were identical but Oceania was an established brand and Azamara wasn't?

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I think RCCL could have made Azamara a success (and still could) if they appropriated the proper resources. Yes, Azamara and Oceania are almost identical in concept, but I feel this market between premium and luxury is large enough to support both. One of the problems with Azamara is that most people, even avid cruisers, have never heard of them. Again I fault RCCL for this because they are spread to thin. They have bigger fish to fry than Azamara right now, and the timing to start a new brand was not right.

You asked the question of who would choose Azamara over Oceania if all things were equal (I assume you mean food and service and itineraries). I would simply because I prefer the decor changes incorporated by Celebrity over what Oceania has done. The Oceania ships are a little too fussy for my taste. To be honest I have no strong desire to sail on either Oceania or Azamara. The R-Class ships have never really appealed to me. They straddle between large and small and frankly if I want a large ship experience I will sail on a large ship, and likewise with a small ship. I'm also big on deck space and pools and these ships are lacking in that area. I guess I look at them as a bit of a compromise. That may not be the case in reality but that is how I see them now.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Oceania. They have a strong following right now, but things are changing. Larger ships are on the way and synergies are being combined with Regent. In fact it's likely Regent will base their new design off the Oceania hull. Really good things sometimes have a way of getting spoiled as they get too large or make too many changes. I'm hoping this doesn't happen with Oceania. Time will tell. Personally I have no doubt I would prefer their larger new ship, but I'm not sure their loyal following will feel the same way?

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Originally posted by dmwnc1:
We are less than 135 days until Celebrity SOLSTICE Inaugural Voyage. Anyone booked on her for any of the 2008 voyages?

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December 7th for me. Can't wait!

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Originally posted by eroller:

December 7th for me. Can't wait!

Ernie

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Ernie,

me too - we have evidently both changed to the same voyage! I'm counting the days and can't wait.

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Originally posted by Tim in 'Lauderdale:

Ernie,

me too - we have evidently both changed to the same voyage! I'm counting the days and can't wait.

Tim

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Wonderful Tim! What great news. I can't wait to sail with you. It's been forever since I've actually seen you and even that was for a very short time.

I'll be sailing with my partner which basically means I'll be sailing alone. He tends to be a bit anti-social and stays in the cabin a lot and reads. He is really not into the cruising thing. I'm just the opposite and rarely in the cabin. We do have some other friends going so it should be fun.

I hope you like to drink! :-)

12/7
Independence Of The Seas
Westerdam
Crown Princess
Noordam
Infinity
Celebrity Solstice
Carnival Miracle

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Originally posted by dmwnc1:
Quite an array of ships you'll see in Port Everglades:

12/7
Independence Of The Seas
Westerdam
Crown Princess
Noordam
Infinity
Celebrity Solstice
Carnival Miracle

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Wow, that will be CRAZY! I was planning on just flying standby on Delta, but with all those ships the flights will be packed. I better start looking at some flight options.

Thanks for the heads up, and yes it will be an exciting day in Pt. Everglades on December 7th!

I am glad to see that some thought is going into details such as china and silverware. Too many times I have sat down at dinner on a cruise only to be staring at stuff that looks like Big Lots just had a sidewalk sale. Sure, I can eat off of just about anything; but it's nice that Celebrity is making the effort to see that the experience on Solstice is special.

For us cruise and ship fanatics, these are very exciting times. The fierce competition is definitely a throw back to the 1930's when the likes of Cunard and CGT went at it head to head. The only difference is the circle of interest is a lot smaller.

Ernie, I say grab the chance to sail QE2 one last time,...what the hell.

-Russ

[ 07-13-2008: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Originally posted by linerguy:

Ernie, I say grab the chance to sail QE2 one last time,...what the hell.

-Russ

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Russ,
Any chance you will be on the QE2 sailing?

I agree about SOLSTICE. It's great Celebrity is paying so much attention to the details. After all, these days it's pretty much the details that set apart many products. So many mass-market and premium lines are quite similar in the onboard product, so I really pay attention to the details as a differentiator. A great ship design also helps!