This cruise ship got revamped after 15 years. Was it just a facelift?

• Celebrity Cruises has updated its 15-year-old Celebrity Solstice ship to meet modern traveler preferences.
• Guest feedback led to the addition of an Italian restaurant and a redesigned outdoor park with more seating.
• The refurbished ship is currently sailing on Alaska itineraries, a key market for the cruise line.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Dressed in a bubble-gum pink column dress, the sparkling chanteuse smoothly transitioned from Raye's “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” to Marilyn Monroe’s version of “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend,” with some Madonna’s “Material Girl” interspersed.

The jukebox musical aboard Celebrity Solstice's recent Alaska itinerary was emblematic of the cruise ship’s revitalized spirit. Classics with a touch of modern.

Fifteen years after the Solstice class helped redefine premium cruising, Celebrity Cruises is betting that travelers still want elevated experiences – just with more comfortable seating, more shade and maybe a side of Italian pasta.

“There’s a real sweet spot whenever a cruise line reinvents a proven favorite,” AAA Spokesperson Matthew Cox told USA TODAY. “Members will really get all the comfort of a ship they already know and love, along with the excitement of going on something that feels brand new again.”

Something I noticed aboard the renewed ship wasn’t one of the flashy new lounges or redesigned restaurants. It was the board games. They were everywhere.

Guests clustered around tables in the ship’s new Parlor venue, carefully reading instructions to unfamiliar games while sipping cocktails. Others carried half-finished games into the buffet or brought playing cards to the main dining restaurants.

Celebrity knew Solstice guests would take to them.

“When a ship gets to its quote unquote, half life,” Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge told USA TODAY during an interview aboard the ship while it sailed through Alaska, “you take a step back because you go, well, our consumer preference is still the same. How is that ship performing?”

The answer, according to Hodges Bethge, came from 15 years of guest data and feedback. The company looked at what travelers loved, what felt dated and what spaces no longer matched how people cruise today.

Nightclubs didn’t make the cut this decade. But board games, sports bars and social gathering spaces are the new hits.

“Nightclubs on cruise ships were very popular back then,” she said of the ship’s former Quasar nightclub space. “They’re no longer as popular.”

In its place now sits The Parlor, part upscale sports bar and part nostalgic game room, complete with billiards, foosball, elevated pub food and shelves lined with games ranging from classics to obscure strategy picks.

“It’s really designed to keep that energy flowing all day long,” Cox said of The Boulevard stage, across from The Parlor. “It creates an atmosphere that’s lively while sophisticated ... It offers an experience for guests who want to engage with the environment and with the entertainment, not just simply observe it.”

That social energy was palpable throughout my Alaska sailing.

Adrienne Wilton, a passenger from New Zealand’s Kapiti Coast, said she was impressed by The Parlor. She spent evenings there attending singalongs and dancing with other guests after booking the cruise through a promotion that offered 75% off the second passenger fare.

Wilton, a travel agent, said she and her group had a blast during the ABBA singalong, adding that the ship “looks very nice” after its refurbishment. “Usually I check to see for imperfections,” she said. “But everything looks good and clean.”

She described Celebrity as feeling more upscale than some competitors, praising both the cheerful crew and the refreshed spaces throughout the vessel.

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The overhaul extends far beyond one venue.

Celebrity also transformed the ship’s former Lawn Club into Sunset Park, replacing difficult-to-maintain real grass with turf, expanded seating areas, umbrellas and casual dining offerings designed to encourage guests to linger longer outdoors.

“They wanted to inhabit the space,” Hodges Bethge said of guest feedback. “They wanted to lie down, sit down, watch the movie (shown on the outdoor space), do activities.”

The redesign appears to be working. Even in the cold Alaskan spring, passengers regularly gathered outside – with several complimentary blankets – to grab a drink and watch the sunset or sail away.

“Something like this is a true project to show that there’s a commitment to keeping things fresh and new, to show that they’re listening to client and customer feedback and expectations, and delivering upon it,” Cox added. “It’s really just taking that feedback that they’re experiencing, the best of, and bringing it to vessels that didn’t have it before.”

How are the ship's features?

Between Alaska’s glacier-lined coastlines and an unexpectedly competitive finish-the-lyric game at sea, Celebrity Solstice seems to catch up with guest demands, while still looking for ways to surprise them.

Here are some of my quick takeaways:

• Food: Main dining is a two-hour commitment, especially during peak times, around 6:30 or 8:30 p.m. The food was serviceable, but the specialty restaurants stole the show with richly seasoned dishes, strong menus and good value for the quality and portions. (Special shoutout to Sushi on Five, which had an Indian cuisine menu one day and generous ramen and sushi portions the rest of the week. A great value at $40 per passenger.)
• Cabin: Our veranda cabin was spacious and comfortable for two people. I’d recommend bringing a portable white noise machine, especially in Alaska, where the wind can get loud overnight.
• Service: The staff was excellent across the board. At the buffet and throughout the ship, crew members regularly went the extra step, whether that meant grabbing coffee, tracking down tea that wasn’t on display or simply making guests more comfortable. (Of note, our balcony divider rattled one night, but the room attendants had it fixed in less time than it took me to walk back from the guest services desk to the cabin.)
• Entertainment: There was always something to do, from social activities and guest interaction to quieter options. Even on sea days when it was too cold to use the outdoor pool, the ship never felt overwhelmingly busy. (The Parlor was the most crowded space, but also one of the most fun. It wasn't hard to find a space there.)

Food definitely played a major role in the ship’s refreshment.

Celebrity replaced the underutilized Le Petit Chef restaurant with the new Italian venue, Trattoria Rossa, which offers more table-side preparations, making dinner an event. “The number one type of food our guests wanted was Italian, and we didn’t have it,” Hodges Bethge said.

That balance between preserving fan favorites while modernizing the experience became central to the renovation strategy. “If we would have removed the Martini Bar or removed Murano, I would have been in big trouble,” she joked.

The renewed Solstice is now sailing Alaska itineraries, where Celebrity continues to see strong demand despite increasing competition in the premium cruise market. Hodges Bethge said Alaska remains “exceptionally important” to the brand as the company evaluates future deployment plans.

For many passengers on board, though, the appeal felt simpler than the industry's strategy or design philosophy.

Ian and Lynn Le Vallee of Guernsey, U.K., originally booked this trip during the pandemic before having to cancel. Years later, they finally made the journey, flying from the English Channel through Hawaii before eventually boarding the ship for what became roughly a month-long vacation.

“We wanted to do it while we still feel healthy enough to enjoy it,” Lynn said.

Like many travelers onboard, the Le Vallees seemed less focused on innovations and redesigns than on finally taking the trip they had waited years to experience.

The reporter on this story received access to the sailing from Celebrity Cruises. USA TODAY maintains editorial control.

Josh Rivera is a senior travel and consumer editor for USA TODAY.