thedoorchick

For the cruise we just did in July we chose Select dining, which works well for us because my husband especially may not always be hungry at the same time, especially if we had a late snack or some such. The flexibility is a plus in our case.

We got a two top several nights and shared a few other nights. The first shared night we enjoyed the people we met and ended up seeing them and saying hello around the ship the next few days. The next time we shared, it was the two of us and two other couples. One was older (70s) and they were recently married, having been widowed before, and couldn't stop talking about how they couldn't keep their hands off each other. The notion was rather cute but the details I could have done without. Then the other couple starts in with asking what everyone thinks of President Trump. I thought, oh dear, we have only just met these people and all they can talk about is sex and politics! We excused ourselves before dessert.

So all that to say, we are generally fairly introverted, but sometimes will be open to dining with potential new friends, and sometimes it works out well and other times....not so much.

When our ship was in port in Genoa, we took the train (5 min walk from port) to SM and then walked to Portofino. It's about a 5km walk, very pretty and you can go at an easy pace. There is also a ferry if you prefer. We walked there and took the ferry back after stopping for lunch. It was a good amount of walking but nice to not have to be on a schedule.

We just got off a Med cruise on this ship about 5 weeks ago. I wrote a review which you can find by searching on my posts. Long story short, we had a great time and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

We did not try any specialty dining. Unlike others, we did not have issues with the open seating (or whatever they call it) in the dining room. A couple nights we were grouped with others at a table to share; a few others we had a two top to ourselves, but never waited more than 5 minutes.

We did this a month ago. Stayed at Hotel Campiello which is just steps from St. Mark's but on a very quiet side street. Took the Alilaguna from the cruise port for EUR 8 for each of us and it is about 50 feet to the hotel from the St. Mark's stop. Free breakfast, wifi worked great. It was about EUR 250 per night. Would recommend it and would stay there again.

I would say there were 20+ wood hangers in the closet. I hung up most all my clothes and my husband used a few of them also, and there were plenty for the both of us.

There was also a safe in the room and a hair dryer, and nice toiletries. Plugs had both U.S. and European outlets I believe.

I had forgotten to mention we really enjoyed the solarium; it's a little more relaxing in there than by the main pool and some very comfortable places to lounge. I spent the better part of two afternoons in there reading.

Also, it's handy the way they do the pictures; you can view all pictures associated with your account on kiosks that they have in the photo gallery. Although, somehow another family's pictures ended up mixed in with ours! We didn't buy any pictures as I wasn't crazy about any of them.

TL:DR: I would absolutely recommend this cruise and itinerary to anyone; we had a fantastic time. Had not cruised with Celebrity before, only Carnival, so this was a nice step up in terms of the other customers in many respects. Many other travelers from Europe, Canada, and other parts of the U.S.

Embarkation:

Cruise embarkation was in Barcelona and we walked from our hotel on Las Ramblas down to the waterfront, and took the cruise terminal bus from there to the ship. EUR3 per person and well worth it. I always prefer to walk or take public transportation rather than expensive taxis and save my money for food and entertainment. There was a long line to check in once we got to the terminal, but it moved quickly. An ATM was available for us to grab some euros before embarking. We got on the ship about 1 p.m. and maybe 30 minutes later we were told the cabins were ready and we could go to our room. We stopped by the room to drop off luggage and then went to grab a bite at the welcome buffet. By the way, we had spent 2 days in Barcelona prior to the cruise and would recommend doing so to others.

Cabin:

We had booked an inside cabin which was fine; it's just not worth it to us to spend a lot more on a cabin when you spend little time there. YMMV. Our room steward was very good; he introduced himself right away and showed us some features of the room such as the safe. He was very nice and attentive all week, including replacing our used wine glasses (we had brought on board two bottles of wine to drink in the room). Cabin was very clean and everything worked. Closet had plenty of hangers; this is a big thing for me because I always unpack when on vacation. Shower had a clothes drying line which we did use.

Dining:

We ate breakfast each day at the buffet, and usually lunch too. Dinner was in the main dining room. We had not scheduled a dining time but showed up when we felt like it for the "anytime" dining option. Never did have to wait, so we must have been choosing the right times. Twice they told us we could share with others at a larger table or wait to get one to ourselves; we chose to share both times. Met some nice people that way, although normally we choose a two-top and just eat by ourselves. I did really like the option to eat on your own schedule. In my opinion the dining room had a very good amount of variety. Each night there were 5 or so daily options, in addition to another 5 or so that they had every day (general items like grilled chicken or salmon). Meals I remember enjoying were the grilled chicken, grilled salmon, gnocchi, and something else vegetarian, maybe eggplant parmesan. Signature dessert, the baked Alaska, was delicious. Also appreciated the unusual option of passion fruit glaze on the cheesecake.

At the buffet they are VERY quick to remove your plates, almost to the point of taking it away before you finish. A few times I wanted to say, just relax with the snatching away of plates.

Loved the cheese blintzes served at breakfast as well as the chocolate croissants.

A couple days we got burgers and fries at the grill by the pool. That's a nice option to have.

Drinks:

We did not choose the beverage package since we are not that big of drinkers. We had a few beers and daiquiris by the pool, wine with dinner a few nights, and visited the martini bar once or twice. Would have liked to have more options of wines. Martinis were delicious, but expensive, so we limited that. They had some really fun options at the martini bar. I am normally a soda drinker but I abstained on this cruise except for one or two mornings when I was really craving a Diet Coke and willing to shell out for it.

Entertainment:

We most enjoyed the afternoon and evening entertainment events in the Rendezvous lounge. Trivia, karaoke, and "yes/no" game, for example. The entertainment director, Will, was very engaging and funny. Went to a couple of the shows in the theatre and those were only OK. I heard similar feedback from others. We did like the "Rock Star" show with its throwback to old 80s hair band music. :)

Debarkation:

We had carried on luggage so did not have to worry about luggage tags, putting luggage outside the room and whatnot. We simply had breakfast and then went up to the pool deck to relax and wait until others got off the ship. We had hotel reservations in Venice so it worked better for us to stay on the ship as long as possible, and let those with early flights get off the ship and away from the port. Once the crowd cleared out, we simply walked off the ship and through the port to the water taxi. Simple and painless. The day before departure, we asked to settle our onboard account with cash and then leave whatever was left on the last day on the credit card. This was no problem for them.

Ports of call:

Barcelona - we stayed 2 days prior to the cruise as mentioned, at a hotel on Las Ramblas, and enjoyed some walking around, tapas and sangria. Also took one of the double decker bus tours, which normally I prefer to avoid, but we had limited time and wanted to see more of the city quickly. Highly recommend our hotel, Hotel Continental Barcelona; very convenient location, easy to get to and close to many sights we wanted to see.

Cannes - this was a tender port and they gave out tender tickets; we were able to get on one of the earlier tenders and to our tour group. We did not do a ship excursion but instead a private tour group of 8 people with some other passengers that we had arranged before the cruise. Really enjoyed this as we got to see Nice, Eze, Monaco and Monte Carlo. It was a long day but well worth it. Total of EUR 150 for the both of us including gratuity. We had not been to France and don't speak French so having a tour with a guide helped us see as much as possible. Nice air conditioned van and friendly driver/guide.

Genoa - We got off the ship and walked to the train station, which is about 5 minutes away. Took the train to Santa Margherita and then walked along the coast to Portofino. It was a good amount of walking (5km) and a hot day, but there are places to sit and rest along the way and the view is gorgeous. By the time we got to Portofino, we were ready to rest and so we sat down at a a cafe and got a small pizza and some water and beer. There is a ferry that runs between Portofino and Santa Margherita, so we took that back to save some time, plus we were tired from walking. Took the train back to Genoa and re-boarded the ship. The second of two long, tiring, but very enjoyable days on shore.

Rome - We had been to Rome before multiple times and so we did not even get off the ship that day. It was summer, which means hot and crowded and we did not want to deal with any of that, so we enjoyed a relaxing day on the ship at the pool where most others were off the ship. They did have a good amount of excursions to Rome and for someone who had not experienced the city, of course this was a good opportunity. There is no way to just get off the ship and explore, because you are not allowed to just walk around the port area. You have to get off the ship and take a shuttle into town, and then it is about 30 minutes' walk to the train station, from which you can get to Rome or elsewhere.

Kotor - The most gorgeous port we visited and prior to the cruise I was wondering how it became a port stop, because most people have never even heard of Montenegro. It was like a postcard, seriously breathtaking. The ship was anchored in a small cove with mountains all around, the little town at the foot of them, and clear blue water. This was a tender stop as well; it took a while to get off the ship because the tender boats were pretty small (we were in group 35, I believe). The town is small and it didn't take long to see what we wanted to see. We were ashore maybe two hours including a stop to grab something to eat and drink (and check my email; the cafe we stopped at had free wifi). Speaking of wifi, I was surprised at how many people evidently had shelled out for the onboard wifi on the ship. I just couldn't justify the prices even though I like to stay connected when out of town. But I saw many people walking around on the ship looking at smartphones.

Zadar - After the beauty of Kotor, this was a bit of a letdown. The town was just kind of gray and dry looking. We explored a bit, but were soon ready to get back on board the ship. I know that parts of Croatia are beautiful, but this port stop we could have done without.

Venice - We stayed here two days after the end of the cruise. Our hotel, Campiello, was only about a 2 minute walk from the vaporetto stop; this was by design, as I did not want to be schlepping luggage around over bridges and through crowds. We dropped our luggage at the hotel and then went to a cafe nearby to relax and get a snack, since we were not able to check into the hotel until about 2 p.m. Hotel was very comfortable with free breakfast. Shower was tiny but that is expected in Europe. Despite being only a few steps from the main waterfront with its crowds of people and tourist vendors, we found some side streets near our hotel that were amazingly quiet and peaceful. We rode the vaporetti a few times, but mostly walked everywhere. We did the Rick Steves walk from San Marco to the Rialto bridge and back. Did not go inside San Marco due to crowds. Of course, the square was full of pigeons and scammers. :)

Overall, an amazing vacation.