My favorite part was the comparison of the ship's horns. I don't think the SOLSTICE horn was all that bad, but maybe it's just me? For me, by far LIBERTY OF THE SEAS was the best, followed by SOLSTICE, then NORWEGIAN PEARL, and dead last the EURODAM which I thought sounded pretty pathetic. What do other CTer's think?

The interviews were interesting, and it seems SOLSTICE has achieved universal praise from just about everyone (yourself included). Even those very seasoned cruisers that attend all new ship inaugurals seem blown away by SOLSTICE. I enjoyed the interview with Dan Hanaran best as he spoke about all the detail that went into SOLSTICE. I feel that RCI/Celebrity truly take that attention to detail to a higher level compared to other cruise lines. It's really apparent in their ships and I think it's noticed and appreciated by all the guests onboard.

Bill Miller summed it up best. SOLSTICE is a "jump-out ship, one of my new favorites". This coming from an ocean liner historian who has pretty much seen it all.

Wow, with all this hype I only hope SOLSTICE lives up to my expectations. I sail on her in two weeks. As a surprise to my partner (and a treat for myself as well), I upgraded to a Celebrity Suite last week. I was stunned one was available as all suites on the sailing have been sold out since day one. The space looks amazing!

Thanks again Barry for a very good show.

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Originally posted by eroller:
I really enjoyed this Barry, although it was perhaps a tad bit long.

My favorite part was the comparison of the ship's horns. I don't think the SOLSTICE horn was all that bad, but maybe it's just me? For me, by far LIBERTY OF THE SEAS was the best, followed by SOLSTICE, then NORWEGIAN PEARL, and dead last the EURODAM which I thought sounded pretty pathetic. What do other CTer's think?

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If you were there where I was and heard the ship's whistle, you'd feel the same as I do probably. The sound is actually deep and not bad, but it was very weak and not very loud at all....the others were so loud you want to cover your ears almost and they just send a shiver down your spine, but the Solstice whistle was pathetic, like it was broken or something. I was standing literally right in front of the whistle and made sure I was in the best position to capture the true essence of the blast, but then when it went off, I was really bummed out and let down. I asked Richard Fain about the whistle and he directed me to the staff captain who shrugged and as if to say it's running properly. Then Mr. Fain told a story of how one of the Royal Caribbean ships blew their whistle and he didn't think it was that loud, but then he was blown away when the sound bounced off the building and came back to the ship way louder. Physically the whistle was huge and looked like it was going to make the hair stand up on your neck, but again when it went off....I could talk over the sound of that pitiful attempt at a ship's whistle, and hold a discussion. I also asked the Captain and he said that I was listening to the wrong whistle on the mast, that the real whistle is on the funnel and he said he would blow it in 10 minutes to give me time to get there from the bridge....I went to the forward funnel and waited with my recorder in-hand...and nothing...then I heard way off in the distance that pathetic whistle go off....so there was no whistle in the funnel. The captain didn't seem to know his own ship...there was no whistle in the funnel...couldn't see one anywhere, and of course heard nothing. Then finally I talked with the Staff Captain at dinner and told him what I observed regarding the ship's whistle, and he said he would look into it. It almost sounded like the whistle wasn't getting enough pressure to sound it off properly.

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Originally posted by LeBarryboat:

Ernie,

If you were there where I was and heard the ship's whistle, you'd feel the same as I do probably. The sound is actually deep and not bad, but it was very weak and not very loud at all....

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Ok, I get it. It wasn't the tone, but the volume. On your recording, it actually sounds nice and deep and the volume seems about the same as the others. I don't like a wimpy horn either! I was surprised at how bad the tone was on EURODAM. Not a nice sounding horn at all.

Barry, the show is incredible! The review really seemed like a non-biased "joe six-pack" review of the ship, I really appreciate these types of reviews.

I especially enjoyed the interviews of the west coast sales rep Jeff, sharing the story of his trans-atlantic cruise on the QE2 with the 87-foot tall waves incredible (knocking the 12-ton bow anchor smashing through the hull).

Plus asking the simple question to your interviewees about their early cruise ships they worked on, definitely opens up the stories all of us on this board truly appreciate.

Craig
MKE

[ 12-02-2008: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

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Originally posted by Eric:
I have just read through all the Soltice reviews on the CC forum. All are 2 day cruises to nowhere but the ones from the freebies up to the naming ceremony give rave reviews for sevice & food. Those who actually paid for their cruise slate the service & food dramatically & say not up to usual Celebrity standards, they do rate ships design highly though. Interesting, could it be a case of the "freebies" not biting the hand that feeds them! Eric

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Depends on what you're reading I guess. The first "paid" cruise was actually a 2-day charter by several large travel agencies. I've read very good reports about food and some that stated it was just ok. Food is so subjective anyway you really can't go by reports on a message board. I've come back from cruises where I have felt the food was exceptional, and read reports on CC where people rated it below par. Ask ten people, get ten different opinions. That is the way it works when it comes to food.

The first "real" 7-day revenue cruise of SOLSTICE is just returning today. Several people have been posting to CC all week long about the cruise, and food has been getting very high marks, as well as service. Almost universally everyone is blown away by the design of the ship.

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Originally posted by vivavegas:

No association, just a fan of good podcasters!

Craig
MKE

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The Food:
I was really looking forward to fine dining on the Solstice, but I'm afraid I was a tad let down by the really slow service both nights. The first night we ate in the Grand Epernay Restaurant and I enjoyed the ambiance and of course you couldn't beat our tablemates - including Bill Miller. The food was ok, I ordered the fish Orange Roughy and I thought it was ok, but needed a delicate sauce to go with it. I also ordered the bird...I forgot which kind....and that was nice. The service, however, was very slow, in fact our waiter disappeared and we had to find someone to bring our food.

The next night we ate in the Tuscan Grill....which is a steakhouse atmosphere. Again I ordered the fish..sea bass...and was disappointed with the way it was prepared. I didn't like the scales and skin cooked with the fish. The taste was ok, but not what I was anticipating. Again the service was really slow, and we were worried we would be late for the show.

I did appreciate the breakfast buffet...that was awesome!

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Originally posted by LeBarryboat:

I was really looking forward to fine dining on the Solstice, but I'm afraid I was a tad let down by the really slow service both nights.

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Any galley takes at least 3 to 4 months to bed in, we will have to wait to see if the food that seems to be a little less than perfect at present gets to where it needs to be.

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Originally posted by mike sa:

I read somewhere that the whistle on Solstice is designed to not disturb the guests on board even on deck but can be heard away from the ship quite clearly some 10 miles away.

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They've been saying that since the days of the Queen Mary (1936). I'm sure the whistle on Solstice could be heard fine in the port, but it wasn't loud at all. It had a decent tone, but it wasn't loud. Most ship's whistles make the hair on the back of your neck stand up because they are so loud and resonating....but this one on the Solstice was weak.

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Originally posted by LeBarryboat:

I'm pretty sure it isn't steam-powered...It is most likely air pressure that powers it. Perhaps the pressure was not pumped up high enough???

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I wonder if there are different settings for the air pressure in the whistle. Makes sense if they want it to be heard when really needed!!

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Originally posted by joe at travelpage:
Barry, thanks for those although it looks like you had a hard time holding onto your camera and kept dropping it....

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Originally posted by Frosty 4:
I prefer Nikons.
Frosty 4

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