Celebrity Solstice Asia & Australia Blog #1 from Singapore

We’ve just sailed out of Singapore, one of the great Asian port cities, and on this cruise with Celebrity Solstice we’re heading for some of the region’s iconic holiday destinations on a 16 nighter that takes in Bali, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and finishes in Sydney - where she’ll be homeported for the season in a first for the Celebrity cruise line.

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The sailout from Singapore was delayed by three and a half hours as local immigration wouldn’t let Solstice depart until every single passport had been handed in, but that’s not a big deal when you’ve got the Singapore skyline as your backdrop. We were among the many that sat out on the Lawn Club, cocktail in hand, and watched the sun set over Singapore before the night lights kicked in and took over. (The Lawn Club has real grass, by the way, but more on that later.)

Solstice overnighted in Singapore which was a real bonus as we had more time to explore this fascinating city, so it was off through the CBD and into Chinatown for an authentic slice of local life.

When she arrives in Australia for her inaugural season Down Under, Solstice will be the highest rated ship based in the region (Berlitz rating) for a season and first impressions are that it will be hard to contest this claim.

She’s the first in the Solstice class of ships being built by Celebrity and there is a real “wow” factor to this ship. The decor is modern and contemporary and very chic with lots of elegant design touches everywhere and lots of facilities and this is a perfect way to spend a romantic getaway or vacation getaway which we’ll go into a little later when we’ve got a bit more time.

Next stop Bali and we’ll try and get some ships shots uploaded when we get there.