Glass-blowing on the Pacific with the Corning Museum Hot Glass Show.

We slept-in, had breakfast and headed for the beautiful Celebrity Solstice. This ship is really nice and the improvements make it seem like Celebrity executives have actually read my past comment card remarks. The Solstice is a great ship and the attention to detail is wonderful.

After boarding early, we skipped the over-crowded crunch typical of embarkation day and headed for lunch at the Bistro, a specialty café serving crepes, paninis, soups and salads (a bargain at just $5 extra).

It’s unusual that within the month I have visited glass blowing studios in the NC mountains and am now seeing more while on the Pacific with the Corning Museum Hot Glass Show. Located on the top deck of the ship (15), just off the perfectly groomed (real) lawn, the program features three artists who took turns making dramatic pieces and providing educational, personal commentary for the audience. It was interesting and very well done.

We attended programs by guest-Naturalist on steroids, educator and entertainer Brent Nixon. He was fun to watch and incredibly knowledgeable. I particularly loved the program on whales (and can now identify species by different blow patterns). Nixon was a super choice for a ship with an Alaska itinerary and large numbers of kids as well as interested adults; he kept things lively but never ‘dumbed-down’ the educational content.

Dinner of the best-ever fresh Pacific salmon was followed with a great Broadway review.
Best of all, we survived the mother/daughter cage match for who got more hangers, closet & drawer space: it was a draw.