Last ship in group exudes Solstice class
While I am in transit for a Christmas river cruise on the Danube I asked our Ports and Bows backup team Bob and Nancy Dunn to report on the launch in Florida of the final Solstice Class ship, the Reflection. Here is their report.
Since Celebrity’s people refer to the Reflection as the “exclamation point” on the popular Solstice Class of ships, what surely must follow is the “question mark.” As in … what’s next?
When you build five ships in five years with the quality and acceptance of the Solstice sisters, the encore is both difficult and eagerly anticipated.
“There are no plans,” said Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice-president of sales, after a news conference where new president Michael Bayley was a no-show. “We ask Michael every day. This is so bittersweet for us because we’ve done so much so fast, and now it’s over. It will be a struggle to find a way to make a ship more beautiful than the Reflection.”
Roaming the Reflection for two days was a shipload of travel agents, friends of Celebrity and media. Nary was heard a negative word from anyone about this fifth ship in the Solstice Class, the youngest fleet in cruising. The flagship was launched in 2008, followed by Equinox (2009), Eclipse (2010) and Silhouette (2011).
The latest reflects the best of them all and is Celebrity’s biggest ship, with room for 3,046 passengers, 160 more than the Silhouette. To accommodate them, mostly by adding suites, Celebrity reshaped spaces that weren’t being used to capacity, such as the Observation Lounge, and added one full deck. That also meant making it 60 centimetres wider to stabilize it and, there was a ripple effect on design throughout the ship.
On earlier Solstice models, the Lawn Club was a natural-looking area made of real grass and a playground for Corning artists who did glass blowing. It’s now an outdoor barbecue, the Lawn Club Grill, where passengers can pay $40 to make their dinner, with another specialty eatery for breakfast and lunch, The Porch, for which passengers pay $5.
The Observation Lounge was an expansive, glassed-in area far above the bridge. It’s now 50-per-cent smaller, the other half consumed by some of the new 34 Aqua Class suites that come with a list of extras. The Reflection Suite is something else. You can shower over the sea in a glass “pod,” hoping nobody can see you — and otherwise enjoy the ultimate in luxury.
Suite passengers tend to buy spa treatments, so AquaSpa is bigger and better, too. That’s a yardstick of the market Celebrity wants to target, providing it with a “modern luxury” experience. When he met with travel agents, Bayley told them: “Together we must target the affluent customer who would really enjoy this content. Reflection is a true expression of all that’s gone into the premium brand. We want to move ourselves further into this premium place, stop having conversations about price and talk about the value.”
That will also be reflected in Celebrity’s new itineraries for 2014, to be announced in March. They will include more one-way sailings where you can board in various ports, visits to all seven continents and three tiers of land tours — the only one he mentioned was hot-air ballooning in Tuscany with a picnic on the hills.
Many upgrades will spread to other ships in the line. Two of four Millennium Class ships have already been “Solsticized” — Celebrity’s contribution to the dictionary — and even the 17-year-old Century will get some of the upgrades.
Rotation of crew has changed, with a maximum of three contracts on the same ship. As one told us, it’s so the people can also be Solsticized, and to reflect that modern luxury.