A bit of a pre-trip review

After a year of planning our Mediterranean cruise is almost here! It seems like yesterday when I was pulling my hair out with Celebrity customer service because the cruise we had originally booked was chartered, then the land portion of the alternate itinerary was cancelled. Third time was the charm with the Reflection 7/25 sailing;)

We have always wanted to sail the Mediterranean, and our 30th anniversary seemed to be the perfect time to do it. We've cruised many times, but never in Europe, and haven't sailed a Celebrity ship since we sailed the Zenith to Bermuda many years ago. I'm the planner in the family, so it was left to me to do all the planning, research, and booking. My DH's idea of planning is to put a pile of clothes on the bed and declare himself "packed". We are definitely a Green Acres kind of couple.

I've always found great info on CC, so wanted to pay it forward in case there are others who are in the early planning stage of a first cruise in Europe. Once we finally confirmed the ship, Reflection, and the date, 7/25, I booked our air. Normally I would do this myself, but Choiceair showed the same flights I was looking at for about the same price, and it included transfers from FCO to our hotel in Rome as well as transfers from the hotel to the pier. I booked the hotel through Celebrity, the Empire Palace in Rome, after reading good reviews and looking at their website. The plan was to fly out of the U.S. Tuesday night, arrive Wednesday and chill for the day, then do a whirlwind tour of Rome Thursday.

More later, finalizing my ensembles and shoe pairings...

As you can see, I have a bit of a shoe problem ;)

Nice shoe closet

I can relate to shoe passion but for flying to the Med I paired it down to one pair of closed walking shoes, one open walking sandal and one dress but comfy sandal. Also brought one pair of throw away shoes in case there was aqua alta in Venice (floods)

We were able to fly with one small suitcase and one carryon each to avoid extra luggage charges. We brought a bunch if clothes home we didn't wear

Believe me. Comfort is most important. Looking stylish is very secondary

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By the way

It was our 1st Europe sailing after many Carib and it was Rome (2 days pre) to Venice (2days extra here too) with Amalfi Greece and Dubrovnik in October. Magical trip. Perfect weather 46 th anniversary. If you have any questions please ask

You will love it

Happy sailing

Linda

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What perfect timing for a fantastic "preview" review! I love it!

We have sailed many Caribbean sailings, plan to do Bermuda next summer, and then.............we, too, will be doing the "big" one! We will celebrate our 35th anniversary AND my retirement, so I'm sure it will be well worth waiting for!

I am excited to read how you planned for this wonderful trip. I am the planner here, too, and I know how much fun you had doing it! I think the anticipation and research is almost as fun as the actual cruise! I can't wait to begin mine! In fact, with your post, I can say I've officially started now! Thanks, again!!!

I wish you smooth sailing, and an awesome, once in a lifetime, journey.:D

I think you have made a great choice of the Empire Palace hotel. We were really happy with the hotel last December. Try the Ristorante La Locanda di Bacco round the corner. The profiteroles are to die for. We ended up eating their all three evenings.

Thanks for the report! Hope you enjoy your cruise.

We leave in August for our 30th anniversary cruise as well. On Silhouette out of Venice. Looking forward to more of your pre-trip report. Enjoy and Happy Anniversary.

After a brief interlude for hair and nails, I'm back :)

One of the biggest concerns we had about such a port intensive itinerary was what I call the "If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium " syndrome. I didn't want to be so exhausted from touring that we lost the impact of what we were seeing. With that in mind, I booked tours with differing levels of walking and duration length. I also booked a combination of ship excursions, private tours, and one day with nothing booked so we could just explore on our own. As we've never been before, I have no idea if it is the "best" way, but I guess we'll find out.

We live in Western Ma., so usually fly out of Hartford, Ct. Would it have been cheaper to fly out of Logan or JFK? Probably, but my DH doesn't fly very often, so I wanted to make the traveling as easy as possible for him. I didn't schedule anything for the arrival day, just in case we were wiped out from the flight. That left Thursday to see most of the sights in Rome. There is a lot of good info on tours in Rome. I found one that took us to all the things we wanted to see- it's an 8 hour tour- a little pricey, but as that old commercial said, we're worth it :).

Choosing a cabin on the ship was the easiest part, once we got past the whole cancelled twice thing. We like the GS category on RCI, so went with a CS, #1638. I'm looking forward to seeing what the suite life is like on Celebrity.

Off to finish packing- I read all of Rick Steve's books, as well as various packing guides. I looked at my DH and he just knew- we were traveling with a 3rd checked bag- sorry, a girl's got to have options. Not the cheapest way to travel, but,well.....

Enjoy your trip, and PLEASE come back to tell us all about it! If you're like me, you've been counting the days for this trip for a LONG time. It's finally almost here!

Can't wait to hear all about it!

I read about a packing technique for carry-on bags over on the fashion forum, and decided to try it out. It's called bundling, and you layer long pants, shirts, shorts, finally folding everything in, like a, well like a bundle :). Happy to report this worked extremely well for DH-he fit 4 pairs of pants, 4 shorts, 4 polo shirts, 4 silk guayabera type shirts, one bathing suit, one t-shirt, and 6 pairs of socks in a standard carry-on bag.

So where were we....For our tour in Rome I read reviews on Tripadvisor as well as in the ports of call forum. I eventually went with a tour company that included everything we wanted to see. I was impressed when they contacted me by email with an update on restoration projects currently that involve the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. Instead of visiting these sites the tour will now include a walk-through of the Roman Forum, the site of Caesar's death, and a lunch stop in the Piazza Navona. We will have 3 hours in the Vatican and the Basilica. I'll post a review of tours when we return.

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As you can see, I have a bit of a shoe problem ;)

My goodness, I would be ousted if I tried to have something like this. hahaha

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As you can see, I have a bit of a shoe problem ;)

LOL - knew that I liked you! :D

Ooh. Got to see the Trevi fountain.

You will be off by now I expect. Have a safe journey and how I envy you.

Have a fantastic trip.... we did our first Mediterranean in l989... we are addicted, we are going again in October on the Silhouette. Pace yourself in port, you are in for a treat.

We are off in about an hour to the airport :). Although we will have some free internet on the ship, I'm not sure I want to spend my time online. I'll be doing a complete review when we return.

Here's what I have planned as far as ports:

Sicily- ship tour Taormina,lava river, wine and jewels.

They had me at wine and jewels :)

Athens- ship tour Athens &scape Sounion w/ lunch

Kusadesi- ship tour Ephesus Modus Vivandi

Btw my TA called Celebrity regarding the e-visa and was told those booking tours which take you outside the port city won't need e-visa if tour is conducted by ship.

Rhodes- free exploring day

Santorini-ship tour Pyrgos Village w/Mezes and Wine

(More wine!)

Mykonos - Elia Beach

Naples - private excursion Pompei, Amalfi Coast

(Limoncello!)

We get two free specialty restaurant reservations, so I booked Murano and Qsine.

We are doing a private transfer from the pier to FCO when we return. I wanted the return trip to be as stress less as possible. The day after We return I'll be leaving to do back to back presentations at a state teachers conference- one of those, "it looked good on paper" things...

So excited for you! Our first Med cruise was last year. Magical in every way. Enjoy every minute . We booked it as a once in a lifetime trip but were so enamored, we are planning to sail again in 2016.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip. My youngest wants to do the Med for his graduation (well pre-graduation trip). We'll be doing this in 2017 so I've sort of started planning. Still trying to decide if we go from Rome to Venice or Venice to Rome. Either way, we'll be tacking on additional days at the start and finish. DS really wants to see Venice, so I'm thinking we'll start there.

Enjoy your cruise!

Enjoy your trip! We did this same cruise last September and it was one of my favorites. The ports were amazing! Looking forward to your review when you return.

Bon voyage! Can't wait for your review. We have 13 months til we sail from Venice to Rome - first of a b2b - then Rome to Istanbul. We ended anothe Med cruise in Rome and loved it! Anxious to hear about your trip.

My youngest wants to do the Med for his graduation (well pre-graduation trip). We'll be doing this in 2017 so I've sort of started planning. Still trying to decide if we go from Rome to Venice or Venice to Rome. !

I did my Mediterranean Cruise back in 2006 with my daughter as a HS graduation gift. She brought a friend and we had a terrific time. We did a 12 night on the Millennium from Barcelona to Venice with 3 days in Barcelona prior and 3 days in Venice at the end. Enjoy.

I did my Mediterranean Cruise back in 2006 with my daughter as a HS graduation gift. She brought a friend and we had a terrific time. We did a 12 night on the Millennium from Barcelona to Venice with 3 days in Barcelona prior and 3 days in Venice at the end. Enjoy.

Lucky you! The one mistake we made was taking a 12 day day cruise and only one day pre- cruise in Barcelona. I was so concerned about leaving my job and putting the burden on others. Guess what? I'm over it. I work like a dog all year so they'll have to suck it up because next time I will take add'l days prior to embarkation. Lol

I read about a packing technique for carry-on bags over on the fashion forum, and decided to try it out. It's called bundling, and you layer long pants, shirts, shorts, finally folding everything in, like a, well like a bundle :). Happy to report this worked extremely well for DH-he fit 4 pairs of pants, 4 shorts, 4 polo shirts, 4 silk guayabera type shirts, one bathing suit, one t-shirt, and 6 pairs of socks in a standard carry-on bag.

 

So where were we....For our tour in Rome I read reviews on Tripadvisor as well as in the ports of call forum. I eventually went with a tour company that included everything we wanted to see. I was impressed when they contacted me by email with an update on restoration projects currently that involve the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. Instead of visiting these sites the tour will now include a walk-through of the Roman Forum, the site of Caesar's death, and a lunch stop in the Piazza Navona. We will have 3 hours in the Vatican and the Basilica. I'll post a review of tours when we return.

Just wanted to tell you that I've used the bundling method for the past two years and like it! Since you have days pre and post "unpacking", you could make two bundles so you can just pop out the top bundle for the days you need it without unbundling the whole thing.

I think you have made a great choice of the Empire Palace hotel. We were really happy with the hotel last December. Try the Ristorante La Locanda di Bacco round the corner. The profiteroles are to die for. We ended up eating their all three evenings.

We'll be there for 3 nights before our TA cruise. Glad to hear you enjoyed it; we've seen very mixed reviews. We'll check out the restaurant you mentioned.

We'll be there for 3 nights before our TA cruise. Glad to hear you enjoyed it; we've seen very mixed reviews. We'll check out the restaurant you mentioned.

Is that TA out of Rome on Nov 5th? We disembark from the Connie that day, will take the train into the city and will have til 8pm to walk around and talk the train to the airport.