Sawyer Glacier Alaskan Cruise

We have been on cruises before, but never on such a large ship. 

We caught a Shuttle Express van from the hotel to Dock 91 

and joined the queue to go through security and check-in.

The Celebrity Solstice has an occupancy of 2850 persons. Everything about the ship was special, and one was made to feel special. As we boarded the ship we were handed a glass of champagne or orange juice. As cabins were not yet available we were invited to go the restaurant for some lunch.

Once cabins were available we took our drinks and went to our cabin.

We were on deck nine and the cabin looked just like on the Celebrity web pages.

We assumed that Jonnie's bed was the lounge, but no..... his bed pulls down from the ceiling, 

so we can still use the lounge. I'm sure I took a photo, so will post it later. 

The bathroom was larger than expected and very functional.

Our first drinks in the cabin.

Look at the size of the TV :)

 Before leaving the port of Seattle, all the passengers had a evacuation drill.

Our evacuation centre was the main theatre.

After that we went for a walk around the ship.

We settled in the Sky Lounge for departure. 

There was a 'sail away' party, but we were comfortable in the Sky Lounge. 

Seattle sky-line in the background.

I look cranky in this photo - LOL - I wasn't, I was enjoying my mojito.

 We had drink packages included as part of our fare, and it was good.

We spent a lot of time just relaxing and enjoying the view.

View from our balcony.

 There are many different restaurants on board, serving a variety of food.

Here we are about 8pm in the Grand Epernay Restaurant, where we ate most of our dinners.

See how light it is outside, and it's after 8pm.

 After dinner there was always 3 or 4 different types of entertainment in the various parts of the ship.

From bands playing contemporary music ...... 

... to game shows

 

This is how we ended most days - with a night cap.

The TV in the cabin had a navigation channel, as below, and a web cam, 

as well as movie channels and news channels.

Each evening while we were at dinner our room steward would make Jonnie's bed and turn down ours. He always left chocolates for us, and a copy of the following days events. 

See the ladder for Jonnie to get in and out of bed.

Our second day was at sea. This is the view from our balcony.

One unique part of this ship was a live tree, 

actually planted in soil and suspended in the middle of the ship.

Relaxing with a morning coffee / hot chocolate

One of the many bars.

With so many people on board, we often found corridors and areas empty 

- very surprising.

 The Solstice also has real grass growing on deck 15.

 Pre-dinner drinks.

 There were two different special cocktails available each day.

I can't remember what this one was, but I went back to mojitos.

The Ocean-view Cafe was where we had breakfast (when we didn't have it in the cabin) and lunch each day. There were many different choices of food, and we never went hungry.

 Jonnie liked the pasta dishes and the Asian food.

There were two shows each evening in the main theatre.

We went to the second show after dinner.

 Sun setting about 10.30pm - very strange. 

We did not get use to the late sunsets, and were often in bed while the sun was still 'up' 

- such oldies we are!!

 The second night we can back to the cabin to find this 

- Jonnie was really taken by it.

 Web cam on the TV, is how we started each day. 

Details included sunrise and sunset, expected temperatures, 

current time and current temperature.

View coming into Ketchikan.

 Jonnie got out the USA flags we bought in Seattle and decorated our towel animal.

Next blog will be about Ketchikan.

Happy Travels

Allison and Peter