Want to bring home a unique souvenir from your cruise? Book a Hot Glass class!

Most people collect magnets, ornaments, or other small trinkets in the gift shops lining the ports they visit via cruise ship. But how cool would it be to not only bring home a unique souvenir but also have it be one you made with your own hands onboard the cruise ship?! This will definitely be the one item that doesn't sit on a shelf getting dusty or buried in a closet. If you sail on these three Celebrity ships: Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Eclipse, or the one I just completed sailing on, the Celebrity Equinox, you will have a special place on board called The Hollywood Hot Glass class. Celebrity used to have a partnership with Corning when we first sailed on Celebrity Solstice but have now rebranded as The Hollywood Hot Glass class. 

If you're unsure yet about participating or just want to watch, check your onboard Celebrity Today schedules left in the cabin (or your Celebrity Cruises app if you're technically inclined) to find out when the resident glass artists will be putting on a free show. They go through the process of making a hot glass sculpture and explain the steps. Passengers are also welcome to come visit the same area during Hot Glass class sessions to watch other passengers make their purchased sculptures. 

As with most onboard upcharges, it is best to pre-purchase a class online before your cruise for a small discount. There is also a small discount option if you book as a class for two versus one. Be careful when signing up for the class for two. Only list one name when prompted or it will charge you for two bookings of two people. We chose the class for two option, booked during a pre-cruise sale, and used our onboard credit (OBC) to cover the cost. When you pre-book online, it translates to being able to choose any of the sample choices displayed at Hollywood Hot Glass that are priced at $120. If you choose any of the larger, more expensive pieces, you are only charged the difference to your onboard account. Our chosen designs and a desire to stay small to avoid adding too much weight to our suitcases on the flight home, were both within the $120 range. 

It is advised that you go to the Hollywood Hot Glass studio onboard as soon as you can on embarkation day to sign up for a date and time for your roughly 20 minute session. We had a bit of trouble with this effort. When we first arrived at the studio, no one was there to take signups. We asked one of the crew members who seemed to be supervising the area and she told us the signups don't start until 2PM. We went off to have lunch and explore. Just before 2PM, we returned to the studio and found another couple already waiting to sign up. They had done the class on a previous cruise so we chatted about their experience. 2PM comes and goes with no sign of anyone showing up to take signups. 2:15PM, 2:30PM. We try to ask the original crew member about the delay but she just walks away. Another crew member offers to try and call to make someone come up and is surprised when no one has shown up by the time she returns. As we continue to stand around waiting, more and more people show up to sign up. This helpful second crew member spots the glass artist's water bottle and tries to assure us all that it's a sign of his impending arrival. When the first couple points out that his water bottle has been there all this time, she heads back inside to call someone. 

Finally around 3PM, one of the hot glass artists come up to the studio. When the first couple starts to make their appointment time, he explains that he doesn't have anything available for the first couple days of the cruise. "How are those slots already full?", they ask. "Oh, well signups aren't supposed to be until 4PM but some people were here when I was here earlier and I let them sign up." came his reply. 4PM is when the first Hollywood Hot Glass presentation was scheduled. So much for 2PM or 4PM. Thankfully, we were able to secure a time for the second sea day (4th day of the cruise) at 11:20AM and 11:40AM. It ended up working out even better because we could still have time for breakfast and morning trivia beforehand. 

As I was live posting on Twitter and Instagram, I shared about our frustrations getting signed up. I made a point of including that in the end we were able to get a slot so other than the miscommunication frustration, everything worked out fine. Celebrity Cruises saw my tweet and reached out to apologize and assure me that they'd be sharing my concerns with the team onboard. Celebrity mentioned that the onboard team would like to discuss the issue with me. I chose not to bring it up since we were satisfied with the end result. The funny and absurd moment that resulted from that came several days later when Dad and I were in The Retreat Lounge enjoying snacks and sodas. The Retreat Concierge, Janelle, came over and specifically greeted Dad. She then told him that they'd received his feedback and thank him for it. Poor Dad is just nodding along in response looking confused so Janelle keeps repeating her message. Once she steps away, I explain to Dad what Janelle had been referring to. It wasn't worth interrupting while Janelle was making an effort to point out that it was me who'd reported the issue, not Dad. My Twitter account and my correspondence with Celebrity afterwards all used my first name. Last I checked Dad and I don't have the same first name so not sure how referring to the issue as Dad's feedback and only wanting to talk to him to discuss it ended up. Also not sure just saying "We got your feedback and thank you for it." is really discussing it with either of us. As the saying goes, pick your battles, and this was not worth correcting Janelle or pressing further. Especially when this interaction came several days after we completed the class and posted about how we were happy with our results!

When you show up for your class, you are invited back behind the barrier with one of the Hot Glass instructors guiding you through every step. Dad chose the starfish and opted to use the same color palette that the sample used. Dad's starfish did have the extra step of using tongs to pull up on each corner while the instructor rotated the hot glass and pushed against the bottom to spread and flatten it out. 

 

Adding the first rounds of color

Reheating the glass so it stays malleable. Starting the shape of the starfish.

Helping to round out the shape with a form and tongs. The form is repeatedly dipped in a water bucket to cool off between uses. 

Dad couldn't resist pretending that the smoothing board was a paddle.

Hey starfish, nice legs or arms?!

Back in the fire to pull some more

Perhaps the only time you can get away with saying "Knock it off!" to my Dad

A little blow torch touch to polish the edges

I chose to get a little more artsy with my choice of the paperweight. I had an artistic vision in mind and chose a color pattern so that it looked like a globe that you were looking down on from space. The shape of the paperweight looked like a globe itself and when you look at it from above or from the side, it really looks like we simply formed a glass dome around an existing globe. When I described my vision to the instructor, he said that he's only had one other person choose to do this and it worked out great for them. He asked me questions making sure I was onboard (pardon the pun) with the arrangement he laid out with the colors I'd chosen. I chose a deep blue, a vivid but darker green, and at his suggestions, a little bit of dirt brown and white specks to space throughout for the look of dirt and clouds. His display of the color pattern spread out on the table looked just like a flat map of Earth. 

Getting a lesson on how to hold the rod

After donning safety goggles provided by the studio for use during the session, I was walked through the step by step instructions making the paperweight. There is a lot of hands on participation from both you and the instructor. You're never left alone to do the steps. For the bulk of the time, you're either holding the stick in between their hands so you get the feel of the experience but the instructor is leading the movements or you're using one of the tools on the blown glass to help mold the shape while the instructor holds the stick. I did feel like I participated in each step of making the sculpture and trusted the advice and directives of the instructor. Since my piece was made from a single sphere and stayed round, I did not have to blow through a tube or make and add on extra pieces like you would with a fish or turtle sculpture. 

First color being dipped was a navy blue for the ocean - the instructor guides you along the way directing the times you want to roll the glass flat or bring it up an angle to press into the coloring.

It's getting hot in here!

Now we roll along the table to pick up the green representing the continents.

My turn at molding with the form

Getting to pinch the bottom to make it more spherical - the sculpture, not the instructor!

Time to knock it off!

Shiny time!

After we participated in the final step of tapping the stick to break the sculpture off the rod, our instructor put it safely away to finish the process. We were instructed to come back the next day anytime after 9AM where our finished products were wrapped up on a cart in bags with our names on them. I was surprised to see many bags still sitting on the cart when I walked by the studio late one evening. Hopefully no one put forth all that money and effort only to forget to pick up their piece!

Since we had booked this pre-cruise, we planned ahead when packing. I picked up a small single roll of bubble wrap and we threw in a roll of electrical tape Dad had in his tool kit. Neither took up much extra room in our suitcases since they were still packaged. The Hollywood Hot Glass instructors wrapped each of our sculptures in a large sheet of butcher paper and then put them inside a white paper sack. When it was time to fit the finished products in our suitcase (the original idea of using our excursion backpack as a carry on to get them home went out the window), I rolled the top of the white paper sack to nestle down to the shape of the item. I then used the bubble wrap and electrical tape to wrap the entire bag and its contents. We had a plastic insert bag leftover from the packaging of our new waterproof pouches so I used that as an extra layer for one of them. The other got cinched and nestled together by using the shower cap provided in our cabin bathroom. Not just for keeping your dirty shoes from touching anything else in your suitcase. I had a regular plastic shopping bag from stopping in a souvenir shop for drinks so that provided one with its final outer layer. The other's final layer was courtesy of the provided Celebrity branded tote bag. I then intentionally nestled the bundles in each of our suitcases creating the equivalent of suitcase crib bumpers with our shoes and dirty laundry. We held our breath and set both suitcases out on the final night. We then breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived home and found that both had successfully made it back without any damage. 

The finished products: