Solstice Embarkation Sunday, 4/10/11

Contrary to my original plan, I left home later than usual and did not board until close to 1 pm. At that point, I thought cabins would be ready, but they were not. I was planning to try to see the Front Desk Manager, so I thought I'd go there first. When I stepped onto the ship, I asked the first greeter that I saw where Guest Services is located. This was a mistake and was my first disappointment with the service onboard. I was told to go down one deck. Unfortunately, when I did so, I discovered that the way to get to Guest Services was via a corridor which was closed until cabins were available. Then I saw a uniformed young man. (I believe he was part of the entertainment staff). I asked him how to get to my destination, and he confirmed that I could not get there from where I was at that time. I foolishly asked him why the woman I had asked didn't tell me that and I was quite surprised at his answer: "she isn't important enough to know." This didn't sound like the Celebrity I used to know! Not a good beginning! So, I went to lunch. Someone helped me find a table, but that was all the help that was volunteered. I noticed that there was a lack of eye contact on the part of the help. Among other things, this meant it was difficult to request beverages and that's quite different than the service at Royal's WJ. I know I said I wouldn't comment on the food in this blog because it is too subjective, but I have to say one thing at this point. I had forgotten how good their ice cream station is - especially compared to Royal's uninspiring 2 flavors of frozen yogurt! Since I am used to finding many people I know on RCCL ships, I was glad to run into a woman I met on NV a few months ago. I ran into her quite early, during lunch, but my record in this category was actually standing next to someone as we both were checking in - so this meeting was probably an hour later than my record. Next, I went to my cabin. I had a balcony guarantee and was assigned an aft "Sunset Veranda" which is one of my favorite locations. It's generally a long walk to the cabin, but the view makes it worthwhile. (More about the view in a little while.) When I opened the door, it seemed as if the cabin was quite small. It wasn't, but it is 2/3 the size of the Junior Suite I was in on the Navigator very recently. Yet, at almost 200 square feet, it was more than twice the size of the early cabins my husband and I shared! Ironically, when I was on NV recently, I was trying to picture how they would divide a few JSs into single-occupancy JSs, which is something that may be happening on Radiance-class ships starting next month. The NV cabin had two sliding glass panels onto the balcony, a narrow but solid wall, and then a single floor-to-ceiling window. I imagined two adjacent cabins being divided at their respective solid walls, creating 3 smaller cabins which would be long and narrow - perhaps much as 3x long compared to the width. I didn't know I was picturing a SL balcony until I entered one today! I found the closet space to be small and awkward. Then I remembered comments regarding the ship when first introduced: it would be very difficult for 2 women to share a cabin, and close to impossible to do so on a longer trip. There were several pages of information waiting to be read. Instead of a coupon book, Celebrity has a single page of 15 perforated coupons for Elite Captain's Club memebers (equivalent to Royal's Diamond, not D+). There were 3 laundry coupons, 4 spa coupons, 3 casino match plays, and one each for internet, bingo, digital photos, wine discount, and discounts in a specialty restaurant (not for the meal itself). Royal certainly wins this point. There was a letter from the Captain's Club hostess outlining the events scheduled for the week. This served to confirm a disappointment I had already anticipated: the Social Hour is not held on the first day, nor is there one when there is a Senior Officers' Cocktail party, even though the two events are at different times. I found this disappointing because I consider Royal's Concierge Lounge to be an oasis far from the maddening crowds and I certainly missed it later that evening. I was deprived of the opportunity to bond early with other like-minded passengers. Since I only booked this trip 12 days in advance, I did not have a dining assignment imprinted on my card, nor was there any notice in the cabin. Surprisingly, there was nothing in the daily program about how to get/change table assignments. I called Guest Services and was connected to what I believe was a dining room hostess - the line was open, I could hear conversation in the background, but nobody spoke into the phone for about 5 minutes when I hung up. So I went to the dining room and found a host at the podium. I told him I didn't know my table assignment and he told me that the hostess at the podium at the other entrance to the dining room could look it up for me. (I didn't understand why he couldn't look it up just as easily as she, but I kept quiet.) The hostess told me I didn't have a table assigned and I would have to go back to the other podium to get one. Service? Anyway, I decided to use Celebrity's flexible dining (they call it "Select") at 6:45. The boat drill, held in the specialty restaurant areas, was probably more helpful to new cruisers than other drills. Since life jackets have not been required at drills, the drills themselves have become a bit of a farce. At least this drill had a video which served well to explain everything. It was nice to have my suitcase before dinner, even though I had scheduled dinner for a little later than usual. At least that took up some of the time before dinner and I didn't have to keep checking back to see if my bag had arrived. Because there is no Concierge Lounge, there would be no free cappuccino throughout the day - only during the 2 hour Continental breakfast in Michael's - I decided during the first dinner that I would buy the Classic non-alcohol package - unlimited fresh juices, sodas from the bars (not cans), non-premium water, specialty coffees, and specialty teas for $13 per day, plus, of course, the mandatory 15%. I asked my waiter if he could handle it, no, so I asked if he could get a bar waiter, and he said he would. Nothing. Then I asked the Wine Steward. Same scenario. Finally, I flagged down a bar waitress, she said she could do it, but not right away. OK. Done. No surprise that after that the wine steward asked if it was taken care of and, even later, my waiter asked as well. Not impressed! I went to the Welcome Aboard show and found it quite good. I have not been going to Royal's first show for two reasons, most notably because it's been the same show, over and over. Furthermore, Royal has only had one show the first night which means I would generally have to rush, and the theater is usually quite crowded. Point to Celebrity. I'll talk about the shows in detail in a later post. A final word about the view from an aft balcony. I woke up during the night and noticed lighting outside which highlighted the wake behind the ship. Also, there was a bright crescent moon. Would you believe I took some pictures? One last surprise: chocolate on pillow!! Are you listening, Royal?