Sarasota News Leader
November 23, 2012
Room service on Celebrity goes pretty much like this:
• You pick up the phone and hit the button marked "room service."
• You tell the friendly person on the other line what you want and he somehow deciphers your 3 a.m. requests.
• They bring you everything you want for no extra money. Seriously. Plates of food arrive at your door, piping hot.
The best part of room service is when your butler asks, "Would you like breakfast in bed, too?" At first I thought he was joking, but he was not at all. I blankly looked at him and said, "Nnnnn huh" (which is the intoxicated Matt's version of Art's "Nnnn," but with a little more effort). The next morning, more food arrived at our door.
When the attendant saw me standing before him, bracing against the door in my inside-out underwear, belly swaying back and forth with the rhythm of the waves (I did say it was a food cruise), puffy face set with bloodshot eyes, he had a choice of wincing or making me feel like a rock star … and he chose rock star.
"Good morning, Lord Matt! Welcome to Flor- ence. You look fresh and ready to start the day!"
He bounded in with Danish, coffee, eggs, toast, salmon, bagels and everything else I had ordered. Within seconds, the balcony ta- ble was set. As we pulled into port, Seth and I had breakfast and aspirin. I swear I felt awe- some in seconds.
THE OTHER DINING CHOICES
Aside from the ego-building room service, Sol- stice is home to several specialty restaurants that range in the level of caloric intake they offer.
Sure, I booked this ship partly because of the clean cuisine, thinking the boat would be just like eating at home. I would go to the gym every day and eat at the low-cal restaurants, and the only sugar I would touch would be a sugar rub in the spa. The fact is that I was telling myself a lie.
After one healthful meal on Day One, I spent the rest of the time as if I were a piranha, open-mouthed and eating anything I could tear into. Gym, shmym. I forced myself to go four times at the very end of the cruise just to say I exerted energy. Regardless, it is good to know you can eat healthfully if you are into that kind of thing.
THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE
Before leaving, I read online that Celebrity's staterooms were unbelievably well planned for space. I thought, of course the marketing information would say that. Let me be the first to say that for three days, all everyone onboard talked about was the accuracy of the brochures and website. The rooms are crazy good, offering amenities from a balcony to a sitting area to a full king-size bed.
As I said before, cruising will never be a "let's- go-submerge-ourselves-into-a-new-culture" type of thing. It is more of a "I-want-to-skirt- through-countries-and-be-pampered" type of thing.
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