Cruise News Daily Newsfile
October 1, 2008

First Look at Celebrity Solstice Interior Spaces

Celebrity Solstice is virtually complete from a construction standpoint, but most of the furniture still needs to be brought aboard as well as the provisions. While these photos give you a first look into some of the public rooms and spaces, it has to be remembered that they will be even more stunning once they are furnished and decoration is completed over the next month. 
The Grand Epernay Restaurant is Celebrity Solstice's main dining room and one of the ship's largest rooms. Celebrity wanted a distinctive restaurant, so they chose preeminent restaurant and hotel designer Adam Tihany to design the facility. Tihany designed such other celebrated designs as Per Se, Jean Georges, Le Cirque, The Sea Grill and Osteria del Circo in New York; Aureole, Bouchon and Seablue in Las Vegas; and Monte’s and the chic Mandarin Bar at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London. Tihany said he wanted the sweeping two-story dining to be a combination of Old Hollywood and contemporary design. One of the room's focal points is the dramatic two-story glass wine tower (shown at right). This was Tihany's first design for a cruise ship. Imagine what he will turn out once he learns how to do it. 
Good food and beverage is always close at hand aboard a Celebrity ship - even amid the Galleria Boutiques. Galleria Tastings brings together unique foods, special drinks, sparkling jewelry and fashion. Passengers will be able to sample a variety of one-of-a-kind foods and beverages to combine satisfaction for their palates with a feast for their eyes as they watch the area's periodic fashion shows. 
A signature feature of Celebrity ships is the Martini Bar,. and Celebrity Solstice will be no different. Solstice's (which will eventually have stools and tables) will feature a frosted bar where passengers can enjoy more than a hundred varieties of vodkas from around the world and an extensive menu of martinis, from the classics to the latest creations.
Solstice's Martini Bar will have a new twist, however, called Crush. Its table in an alcove adjacent to the Martini Bar will have an ice-filled center (as opposed to the trash filling it here) where guests can participate in caviar and vodka tastings, or even host a private event.
The Lawn Club is the Solstice-class ships' trademark feature. Yes, it's real grass, a half acre of it, and it comes complete with its own groundskeeper. The Lawn Club will play host to passengers' bocce ball and croquet games, putting practice and even a picnic or two. The 22,927 square feet of grass is the result of a major study by a team of landscape architects and irrigation specialists along with turf and soil scientists at the University of Florida to find just exactly the right type of grass and how to grow it. It needs to withstand the winds, sun, shade and temperature variations it will experience as the ship spends its winters in the Caribbean and summers in the Mediterranean. It also has to withstand the foot traffic it will receive as all passengers will want to say they were on Solstice's grass. It even has its own irrigation system. Like everything else on the ship, the weight of the grass and soil and even the water they absorb from the atmosphere and from irrigation had to be counterbalanced with weight on the lower decks. Nothing is simple.  

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