drarill

drarill, sounds like you have a good plan.

 

We have arrived many times to Southampton and have not had any problems making flights of 1:00 PM. I go with the 1:00 PM rule here to give extra time for the unexpected and to get through airport security.

 

Business Class should make check in quicker for you too.

 

Keith

Thanks Keith!! hope my plan works out!! every time I read that a late afternoon flight is recommended I freak out!! :):)

I would not book anything before 1:00 PM.

 

Keith

Our Eclipse cruise arrives on a Saturday, and our flight leaves at 1:00PM. We have private transportation picking us up at 8:00 A.M and we are flying Business class. Hope we have enough time and everything works out for us.

Excellent review!!:):)

Thanks for your review. The Brilliance is a beautiful ship. We are going back to the Baltic this summer, our first time was on the Jewel, this time we are cruising with Celebrity. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Great start!! Looking forward to the rest of your review!:):)

Thanks for the information. :)

Great review!! Thanks for sharing!:):)

Thanks for sharing... looking forward to the rest of your review and pictures:)

Worth noting for anyone sailing the Fjords in Norway the best lunch ever was a room service burger and fries on the balcony enjoying the beautiful scenery. Bliss.....

DH loves a good burger!! Thanks for letting us know!:)

Thank you everyone for all your thoughtful comments, we greatly appreciate them! Especially regarding the ports and ease to DIY.

 

Essiesmom: how has the weather been so far? Have the ports been very crowded?

 

Thank you!!

DivFam; we really like cruising the Med at the end of May or beginning of June. Cooler weather and better crowds. July is hot and you are going to find big crowds. My teenage children like cruising in July because there are more families aboard and they make many friends. We were in the Adriatic last summer in the beginning of July and it was over 90 and close to a 100 in most ports. We booked a really bad private tour in Sicily. Their vans didn't have AC and it was awful!! They couldn't believe that we were complaining about the heat, because we come from a caribbean island. I had to explain that I work on an office with AC, I have central AC in my home and I drive a car with a functioning AC, unlike theirs. Try to search for a website called Cruiseoutlook .com, it provides a 10 day weather forecast for the ports of call in your cruise. Really cool.

We are really pro family cruising, planning is the key to success and having realistic expectations. It has work for us. Hope you have a great time.

Hello,

 

My husband and I have cruised a handful of times, but are now trying to plan out first "getaway" with our almost 6 month old daughter (will be nearly 7 months on June 26).

 

We would like to get thoughts on bringing a baby on a port intensive cruise (1 sea day out of a 14 day cruise) and cruising on the Celebrity Silhouette with a baby.

 

Also, any guidance on whether bringing a baby on excursions is doable and whether the ports on the itinerary could just be done on their own. We have been to both Venice and Rome previously, but the other ports are all new to us.

 

Also, is it silly to book a guaranteed Conceirge class room? We are planning on bringing a travel crib, stroller, and are trying to determine if a car seat is necessary (we are comfortable not bringing, if we are sticking with large tour busses or walking)

 

Many thanks!!!

Welcome to Cruise Critics. We did the Adriatic last year and it is a really port intensive cruise. You can do Venice, Dubrovnik and Split on your own. We have been traveling with our children since they were 1 and 2 y/o and took them to their first Med cruise when they were 7 and 8. My only concern with your baby is the heat, it was really hot in the Adriatic last summer. I think that you will be better with short excursions, private tours or DIY. You will find good information about this ports in the Port of Calls boards, use the search engine to find private tour companies or DIY tours. Hope you have a great cruise.:):)

We were in exact pier last week....the public bus is beside the port.

 

8 Euro for 24 hr pass....includes all public transport and the ferry over to the fortress.

 

Also the rock church is a must see....all these can be done very easy with public transport...there is a hop on bus at the pier,but you have to pay extra to go too the fortress.

 

 

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

We enjoyed our visit to the Rock Church five years ago and are planning to go again this summer.

Welcome back :):) Looking forward to your review!!

Great review and beautiful pictures Grady!! Thanks for sharing.:)

Great review!! Thanks for sharing!:):)

I wanted to share something. I'm D+ in RCCL and was given Elite status before my first Celebrity cruise. I convinced my business partner to take a Celebrity cruise for his upcoming honeymoon. When I called Celebrity to get him a CC number I was told that he needs to be at least platinum to be given the reciprocity benefits. He is only gold in C&A, guess he will have to wait for a second cruise with Celebrity.

Larry:

Thanks for posting the menus. We have never used the room service in Celebrity, but I really want to try the smoothies this summer :):)

We had Captain Kafetzis last year on the Silhouette and really liked him. I liked his sense of humor, his lectures and his involvement with the crew and passengers. On our sea day there was a SOS and the ship had to change its course, he kept us informed all the time.

ShiploverHH; Glad you enjoyed the cruise. Like debanbruce I would rather have a wanna be comedian than a grumpy captain.

Thanks chachabell .. look what I found..

 

 

Thanks for the update Cindy.

<3 Greek captains!!

The QOS does not have a jogging track.

What is marked on the deck plan is something painted on a rudimentary sun deck packed with loungers.

Marketing people have a list of features that have to be listed as features no matter what they really are.

Hi Cruisetrail!!

Hope you go back to your thread on the Celebrity Board. :(:( "The Grand Tour of the Celebrity Eclipse..." is not the same without you. Although some really nice posters are trying to help and are doing a good job keeping the thread alive. :):)

thamanrp:

Beautiful pictures!! you are an amazing photographer!! Looking forward to the rest of your report!:):)

I

 

Royal Family Suite 9394: WOW. Let me begin saying we are spacious people…who isn’t? But we also prefer to travel more frequently, spend more on “extras”, etc. than to pay exorbitant prices for cabins on a ship. This would change “just a bit” when we found the great prices on this specific cruise and decided to give it a try because of the 10 days at sea…and we are glad we did! It is actually more space than we need; two separated rooms, each with a king sized bed and several closets, two full bathrooms (one with a tub, one with the shower), a walk-in closet in between (to share), a big living room with a small dining table, and a huge balcony facing aft. All of it for three people! It is actually supposed to carry 5-8 people but the waived the minimum requirement because of the repositioning and, most importantly, with no extra fees…we should do these cruises more often…:rolleyes:

 

Is it worth it? Do we like it? What about suite perks? Well…stay tuned and I’ll tell you! I need some rest now…very stressful day, you know…

Lucky you!! The RFS is a great room. On our first Baltic cruise we booked an OS but two weeks before our sailing date a RFS was offered on RCCL's website, and we immediately took it!! With a family of four we don't meet the minimum five people requirement for this category!!

Loving your review Rico!!!

Rico!!

Loving your review and pictures! Barcelona is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

We will be sailing in the Infinity, leaving Harwich on September 18, 2013. We arrive at Heathrow Airport on September 15 and will stay at a downtown hotel for a few days. We are travelling with another couple. Is there a good bus service that we can take from downtown London to the Harwich port on the morning of September 18? We would also consider a van that can fit four passengers plus a lot of luggage. We do not wish to take a train, as we had a bad experience on a prior cruise (involving a transit strike and carrying heavy bags up and down steps at various stations.)

Thanks for your recommendations.

We use Adelphi Executive hire. They specialize in cruise transfers and their service is excellent. Tell Darren that you found out about him in cruise critics and that you have lots of luggage!! info@adelphiexecutivehire.co.uk

Rico!!

Good morning from Puerto Rico!! I'm having such a good time reading your wonderful review!! Have a great time in Barcelona, we love "La Boqueria"!! BTW, how long was your parents flight to BCN??

Have a beautiful day!