On our Transpacific Cruise we were delighted to meet some old friends from previous cruises – that’s one of the best things about cruising with Celebrity, something that keeps us coming back.
In a way the Solstice herself is an old friend. We cruised on her before in 2012, when she was making her first repositioning to the Pacific and Australia. We only got as far as Barcelona, but it was enough to establish the ship as one of our favorites. She has our favorite combination of specialty restaurants, and her artwork and decor are terrific.
We have sailed with Captain Taramas before and although we don’t know him personally he is a very professional and responsible officer. He encourages his fellow officers to get out and meet the passengers and they certainly did so on the cruise.
But our special treat was reunions with some crew members we knew from before – first of all Leo Arca and his lovely wife Maria from the Philippines. We have known them for years, keep in touch on Facebook and watch his son and our grandkids grow up. Hopefully all the kids can meet someday.
We also met Bertrand, our favorite waiter from the Millennium who is now a head waiter in one of the specialty restaurants. His daughter is a bit older than our first granddaughter. Bertrand very graciously arranged an excellent discount deal for the restaurant he works in, and waited on us personally, What a great guy!
Finally we saw Ibrahim a very classy waiter from the Equinox who we met in the Captain’s Club breakfast back in 2011. He worked with another lovely lady, Miss Anne from France. Anne is now a maitre d’ in a fine French restaurant but Ibrahim still keeps in touch with her.
We also made a bunch of new Celebrity friends and we look forward to the opportunity to see them again in the future. You never know.
