Photography + Words: Meghan Loneragan
The number of cruise ships set to dock at Sydney’s Circular Quay is set to double over the next 12 months. Australian travellers now no longer have only two types of ships to choose from (PO & Princess have traditionally cornered the Aussie market), with Royal Caribbean set to create a little healthy competition).
This either means Australian’s have opened up to the concept or the big cruise companies are simply satiating the desires of the already converted. Either way, everybody is cottoning on.
We say ‘converted’ because, as most people know, there’s a bit of cult around cruising. Those who do it regularly swear by it.
Then there are also the non-believers and the sceptics, outsiders who’ve never tried and are certain it might not be for them. This was where we stood before boarding the Celebrity Solstice a couple of weeks ago. In our view, the true test of a ship its ability to fulfil the needs of the other these types of travellers – those more fickle holidaymakers, while still maintaining the devotion of the regulars.
The Celebrity Solstice (run Celebrity Cruises but owned by parent company, Royal Caribbean) and its sister ships (Eclipse, Equinox, Silhouette and Reflection) seem to have taken firm aim at all three markets, setting the bar very high for themselves in the process.
Anyone who has tried to shift a person’s perception understands how difficult that can be. Keeping in mind that Celebrity ships are still considered very large-scale, it would take a lot more than a nice lobby and a few international restaurants to open the closed mind of a cruising atheist.
But the Solstice class ships aren’t like any other cruise lines. And we’re not just going off the brochure when we say that. We spent hours speaking to other passengers, both regular and first-time cruisers, who’ve all said the same thing. The Solstice is ‘tasteful’, ‘more refined’ and a ‘more thoughtful’ type of boat.
That much is clear.
Things we first thought to be gimmicks and novelties became our favourite things on the ship.
The real grass lawn that covers two thirds of Deck 15 became our haven whenever we craved a little bit of nature. Sitting crossed legged, drinking wine as the sun goes down has surely got to be one of the single most beautiful experiences on the ship, even more so because of its simplicity.
On a more luxurious level, the heated day beds in the Persian Garden essentially mirrors the feeling of the sun on your back but is instantly relaxing when offset with the circulating cooling herbal air.
Entry to the spa also affords you two different types of saunas and therapeutic showers. The experience costs extra but is reasonably priced for full-day access.
But the romance isn’t merely found in the brands and engineering. That’s window dressing to the main event – the actual getting there.
We will never forget glimpsing Bottlenose dolphins riding the ship’s slipstream as we sailed into New Zealand’s Bay of Islands (we all knew to expect them thanks to Chelsea, the ship’s on board naturalist and speaker). Or waving out to Tahitian canoes as they raced to catch the wake behind the ship as we sailed out of Bora Bora.
These kinds of experiences are mostly unique to cruising and we’ll be sharing a lot more thoughts on this over the next few posts.
Right now there are multiple cruise companies attempting to constantly go bigger, bolder and more over the top than each other (Google Oasis of the Seas and you’ll see what we mean). The Celebrity Solstice shies from those ambitions, instead looking for ways to refine things even further.
SEA DAYS
Travelling alone on ship isn’t like travelling alone in the traditional way. That becomes quickly apparent.
Cruising out of Sydney Harbour is such a romantic and dramatic endeavour that you feel very at one with all your cruising compatriots. You’re on a journey with all 3,000 of them (as well as the crew) so you very quickly bond and strike up conversations.
When you’re a solo traveller, you also become kind of a conduit for people to divulge their secrets they wouldn’t share with their on land acquaintances. Questions such as “why are you on this trip?” and “why cruising?” were greeted with stories of struggles through divorce, job loss, and even, sadly, terminal cancer. We understand that sounds quite morbid but every one of these tales was connected by a similar aim – “To live! Enjoy! Stop worrying!” they all said.
And so we did.
Our journey included 10 full days at sea, which meant that we all became very accustomed to what was on offer. Like in the ‘real world’, you quickly establish a bit of a routine. Breakfast in the Oceanview Café at 7am, coffee at Café al Bacio at 10, lunch in the main dining room, followed by cocktails by the pool at 4. In between somewhere you fit in a bit of pool time (and the gym if you’re truly good). It’s all extremely civilised.
Intrepid travelling it is not, however your sense of adventure is put on hold by the womb-like Zen that envelopes you with every glass of wine overlooking the ocean.
MURANO
Murano is one of the Celebrity’s Speciality restaurants – which comes at an extra cost ($45) but includes multiple courses and wine pairing (an added extra). Most cruise ships now come with optional venues for those with a little extra cash to splash and more refine tastes. Although, ask many cruisers and they’ll tell you that they are perfectly happy with the cuisine and service in the main dining room.
Murano, though, is pretty exceptional. On the evening we dined here, we were joined by a New Zealand food critic who said the service and food was on Michelin star par (unfortunately, cruise ships are unable to be officially awarded these).
Even if you’re not a foodie it’s hard to not be impressed by the whole experience. For a company that has to please thousands of different tastes, the décor is classic but with nice modern touches – we loved the copper place settings, a good mix that we think will go the distance (when a dry-dock refurb costs in the million, you want your decor to stay current as long as possible).
Food-wise, there’s no such thing as a single plate dinner on a cruise on we definitely indulged in the options. Murano is modern French cuisine and so the warm goats cheese soufflé with tomao coulis and Parmesan basil pesto is suitably rich and will have you rolling out the door (and it’s only the appetiser).
Ordering the Chateaubriand is a treat, with the chefs cooking the meat on a trolley next to your table. It’s a crowd pleaser but then again, everything on the ship is engineered to appease the maximum number of people so those who don’t get into the spirit of these sorts of touches need not apply.
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