Chasing Constellation from Rome to Arabian Nights November 2016

[need2bespoiled]

The flight over was very, very. We skipped the bus, and had a car drive us from Portland. We were checked in and through security, even without a TSA Pre-Check line at Terminal E in Boston. We waited in the Lufthansa Senator Lounge which while not very large has a nice selection of food and enough seats to handle the load, but we just had a few nibbles. The plane was late arriving due to a stiff head wind, so late to board and late to depart, but we made up time with that stiff tail wind and ended up in Frankfurt almost 30 minutes early.

 

I know many people do not get an opportunity to fly international first class or first class of any kind, but if you save your airline miles / points and plan correctly it is possible. The cabin, flight and food was WONDERFUL. My only issue was the flight was so short after dinner there wasn’t much time to sleep. I was sitting in 1k and Dee was behind me, in 2k but the gentlemen in 1A offered to swap so Dee and I could basically sit next to each other. It was a very kind gesture. There were only 5 of the 8 seats occupied on this flight, with 2 bathrooms big enough to open a suitcase in, just for us in the front. We were provided PJs, slippers, some toiletries, padding for the seat in bed mode, duvets and much more. For what a flight light this cost you can book the Penthouse on one of the cruises we’re doing! I can’t stress how important airline miles and points are in my life!

 

Once we arrived, we were provided an escort and cart ride to the First Class Lounge. The service at the First Class lounge in Frankfurt makes airport “life” enjoyable. It’s hard to hate the travel when you experience it in this way. Darlene and I both took showers, though if I had a bit more time I may have taken a bath. This may sound odd in an airport, but you’d do it in a hotel, right and the shower suite was SUPER clean.

 

The flight to Venice was perfectly on time. Our bags were the first 4 off the belt (yes, we’re not traveling light by any means). After a longish walk from baggage, we met our taxi (water taxi that is) for our ride to Gitti’s Palace where we arrived a little more than 40 minutes after landing, not too bad. We knew our room probably wouldn’t be ready this early and it wasn’t so we enjoyed a latte waterside before heading off on a complimentary taxi ride to Murano. While the ride was complimentary, it was kind of like a carpet demonstration in Kusadasi with a bit less of a hard sell. After the demo, and a walk through the shop I walked a bit through Murano before collecting Dee to find a Pizzeria where we sat outside in the warm sun on a perfect day in Venice before hoping in the water taxi back to Gritti’s for a nap before we meet a guide for a special food tour Dee organized around Venice tonight. Yum!

 

We were escorted to our room where we received a nice upgrade to a “Prestige Room”. Last I checked rooms here were booking for 1200 Euro/night, but again, I used points (and in this case, LOTS of them). When Marriott closed on its purchase of SPG recently, as a Marriott Platinum member, I was immediately given Platinum status at SPG so we changed hotels from the Boscolo in Venice to Gritti’s Palace which has a much better location. While we used more points, we felt the location was worth it, as is the history of this hotel. The room is enormous for Venice standards, with a king size bed, desk, chez, sofa, dual sinks, large tub, separate shower and bathroom with bidet and 10 ft ceilings though our view is courtyard, not Grand Canal.

 

Next up is the review of the Secrets tour of Doge’s Palace we took this morning. We grabbed a quick bit to eat then we meet our guide for a tour of Venice, which we altered a bit on the fly. I am kayaking in the morning and Dee is relaxing a bit. No other plans for Saturday except dinner out a fancy smancy place. Sunday, we head from Rome as the cruise grows every nearer. While we LOVE Venice, we’re still looking forward to unpacking for so long on the cruise. See below for pictures which I will be posting shortly.

 

Happy Sailing,

Jenna

 

Happy to finally start vacation:

 

Nice Rose, Champagne, still water, and warm nuts (not pictured)

 

The "bar" onboard when we boarded:

 

The bathtub in my shower suite at Frankfurt Airpot Luftansa First Class Lounge:

 

I didn't take many pics of the airpot lounge. You can google it, but it is elegant, warm and nice, This is a typical table nibles, servers take drink orders at your seat, and there is a bar an a la carte restaurant all provided, if you originate in Frankfurt, they have a speial terminal and they will drive you to the plane on the tarmac:

[need2bespoiled]

Enought of the fligths TO vacation, and on to the start of vacation!

 

Venice is simply magical!

 

Our ride to the hotel:

 

Dee is finally starting to relax:

 

So amazing how the taxi driver manuvered the boat through the narrow canals and under the lower and narrow bridges. I've piloted boats, it's not that easy!

 

Our first up close views of Venice:

 

As we arrived, so did Viking Star (this is a Cruise Site Afetr all):

 

More to come, I've taken so many pics, trying to be selective!

[need2bespoiled]

Arriving at our home for the next three days;

 

Great place to haev a coffee with a beautiful view of the Grand Canal since our room wasn't ready:

 

Watching some glass blowing at Murano. Unfortunately, we were tired and a bit hungry, so we didn't explore all of the smaller shops. Once there were hundreds of shops making glasss, now less than 15:

 

Pizza on the canal in Murano (you'll notice the Duck, that I got at the lounge in Frankfurt, he seems to be traveling with me and has been showing up in pictures :)

 

The main canal in Murano:

 

More to come!

[need2bespoiled]

Finally back to the hotel, and into our room, fit for a princess. I don't always like ornage rooms, sometimes they're not comfortable, or stuffy, this one is super comfortable:

 

Nice welcome gift:

 

The flowers in the lobby are stunning:

 

 

The lobby at the Gritti is ornate, but not very large like the Daneli in St. Marks Square which is really stunning.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Edited October 28, 2016 by need2bespoiled

[need2bespoiled]

I'm still playing catch up on Yesterday...

 

Dee took a short nap while I did some catch up on social media, including on prepping some of the posts here. We met our guide, Sylvia for the “food tour” down in the lobby.

 

A typical Venetian view as we walked:

 

We walked north towards the other end of the Grand Canal which loops around, across the Rialta Bridge, which I one of 4 bridges over the Grand Canal:

 

View from the bridge:

 

We received lots of history and information as we walk to another square where we tried cicchetti at a couple of different cafes, prosecco and Spritz Veneziano made with Campari.

 

 

Some of the cicchetti were great, like the zucchini flower, but many are fried. We were a bit surprised how much was fried as we hadn’t noticed this before in Italy though we hadn’t spent much time here. After trying a few spots, the tour transitioned into more tour and less food and started to head back toward our hotel to find a place to have some more substantial and hopefully healthier food. We ended up settling on a salad at Riva, the hotel lounge, which was nothing remarkable, and then headed, exhausted up to bed.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Edited October 28, 2016 by need2bespoiled

[TroubleT]

Jenna, Dee:

 

Great review and beautiful pictures! The duck is cute! :-)))

Enjoy your time in Venice!

We'll see you soon!

 

TT

[caribill]

I am happy to answer questions in general about Constellation (once we're onboard), the ports, the Suite Life, the Suez or anything I can, a best I can.

 

As we are taking the equivalent cruise next year at this time, I would appreciate it if you could for port days post information on temperatures and when sunset is.

 

Thanks

[need2bespoiled]

As we are taking the equivalent cruise next year at this time, I would appreciate it if you could for port days post information on temperatures and when sunset is.

 

Thanks

 

I'll try, sunset is easy, you can simply google the location and date and you should get it, like "What time is sunset in Chania on Nov 5" has worked well for me.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

Jenna, Dee:

 

Great review and beautiful pictures! The duck is cute! :-)))

Enjoy your time in Venice!

We'll see you soon!

 

TT

 

Not sure if you've taken off yet, or will be soon, but safe journy's. Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday night at the Martini Bar?!

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

This post is going to be a bit long, 4-5 posts, as Cruise Critic limits the number of pictures I can put in one post and we saw a TON of amazing things.

 

Friday morning (yesterday) came quickly after traveling most of Wednesday and into Thursday so we work a bit late and hurried to get ready for breakfast before we were due to head to St. Mark’s Square and Doges Palace for a Secret Itineraries Tour followed by meeting our Sylvia and touring more of Venice.

We woke up in the morning to breakfast on the grand canal, the view never gets old!

After a nice breakfast, which is extremely pricey if you don’t have it included ($53 Euro), we headed off for Doge’s Palace.

Venice is romantic, Venice is unique, and the sites never get old.

 

St Mark’s Square was empty that early in the morning

 

 

I would highly recommend the Secret Itineraries Tour. We booked directly on the viva ticket site for about $20 each. It includes access to other museums and sites for about a week. You start at the bottom of the dungeon, in the worst cells, and work your way up, learning a ton about Doge’s Palace that helps as you wonder through the rest of the enormous building on your own. The palace was many things including legislature, court, prison, administrative offices and home to the administrator of Venice. The prison side is very stark and very, very different from the public side where Venetians were trying to impress. Once you’ve been on the tour, you don’t need the audio tour, at least we didn’t think so.

 

This was a typical cell:

 

The archives, were documents were copied and one copy was stored:

 

To be continued…

[need2bespoiled]

Torture Chamber:

This is how they got accused to tell the truth, hoisting their arms up by the rope.

 

Amazing roof support, that holds up the largest renaissance room in Europe, and paints that are 25 meters wide (80+ft)!

 

This was an AMAZING floor in one of the rooms that is part of the court:

 

We left the prison section, and into the public section, by walking out of this hidden “cabinet” door. There is a matching on the other side of the room that is simply a cabinet.

 

The ceilings are UNBELIEVABLE!

 

 

To be continued…

[need2bespoiled]

I couldn’t get the entire painting into the frame, 25 meters wide!

 

View outside:

 

Not the best picture of Bridge of Sighs:

 

To be continued…

[need2bespoiled]

After we finished our Secrets Itineraries Tour and walked through the rest of Doge’ Palace, we had a bit to eat out in St. Mark’s Square. This was totally against by better judgement, but Dee needed a rest of the knee, she had done a TON of steps. So we sat down and ordered what could easily be the worst food in all of Italy. Frozen 6-inch Pizza and Ham and Cheese melt on White Bread. I will not post pictures of this crap, and scare you all.

 

We headed along the water towards the Daneli which is a sister property to the Gritti Palace, to check out the beautiful lobby and have a coffee and use the restroom.

 

The ceiling:

 

The lobby:

 

This is where we met our guide, Sylvia to decide what we were doing for the rest of the day. In all honesty, we could have done without a guide, but it was nice to have her recommendations and have her arrange things to be most efficient with our time. We decided we were going to take a private taxi (very pricey) out to Burano, where the houses are pretty colors and they make beautiful lace. Bella Burano!

On the way over, I think Moonstruck Duck fell in love:

 

Burano is more residential feeling, except for the main rio.

 

 

After about 90 minutes or so, we decided to take a crowded “bus” back to Venice, which took about an hour. While we rode the bus, we discussed options for the rest of the afternoon and decided for a stroll through Venice that included “The World’s Most Beautiful Book Store”. I don’t know about that, but it is packed, and is neat. Books in bathtubs to keep them dry when Venice floods, books in a Gondola, in kayaks and on milk crates. In the back there is a stairway made of books to see a “view”. The owner could be considered a marketing genius, but it was neat to see.

 

To be continued…

[need2bespoiled]

A staircase made of old books:

 

Kayak with books:

 

Venice used to have a carnival that ran for 6 months, but that was nuts so now it is only 10 days, masks are a big part of Carnival:

 

Time to head back towards our hotel, and a drink at the Daneli roof top bar to watch the sun set:

 

St. Mark’s at night:

 

Dee decided to relax today while I spent the day Kayaking through most Venice, from tiny canals do the Grand Canal, it is an extremely unique way to see Venice, as you can’t do it by Gondola (too slow and expensive) or boat (can’t go to many of the places we went). The pics are neat, but those will probably get posted tomorrow, as we sit on the train between Venice and Rome, as our cruise nears and we chase Constellation down,

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Woobstr112G]

Your pictures of Venice were magical. Thank you so much for posting them. Have a great cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[need2bespoiled]

Your pictures of Venice were magical. Thank you so much for posting them. Have a great cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

 

Thank you!

 

Happy sailing to you on your next journey!

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

This is a three part post. Just for perspective, I shot this pic, of a cruise ship entering Venice, this is a cruise site after all:

 

Kayaking through the Grand Canals was AMAZING. I am an avid sea kayaker (paddled from Key Largo to Key West, from NH to Canada, etc). There are a few companies who do this for beginners and I’d recommend Venice Kayak on Certosa. I chose them for the types of kayaks they rent. This is easily doable on a cruise that starts in Venice or if you’re there from say, 11am until 6pm. They do half day tours as well. This is not exciting for the kayaking itself, but for the fact it is a TOTALLY unique way to see Venice. You can simply cover more ground (water) and go places where water taxis can’t go and you’d never see in a gondola. I would recommend this to anyone who has the time.

 

I left from our hotel and walked about 15 min to Fondamente to catch the bus (water bus) to Certosa Island which took about 20 min and is a requested stop. When I was walking I saw how they deal with trash on Venice (while I was paddling, I saw a LOT more of how they deal with other things, from a hearse, to a septic boat, ambulances, and fire stations):

 

Once I hoped on the bus, I knew it was going to be a beautiful day:

 

While I signed up for the group Tour, Venice Kayak decided to run the trip even though I was the only one who signed up for a full day tour. The afternoon tour had 14 people. After leaving Certosa Island, we had cross the lagoon, which is the most dangerous part due to all the boat traffic. Waiting for the busses and taxis:

 

We went under many low bridges and routes no boats could take:

 

To be continued …

Edited October 30, 2016 by need2bespoiled

[need2bespoiled]

 

We stopped for lunch at a Café in a square:

 

Such a neat way to see Venice:

 

Of course Moonstruck Duck joined us:

 

We stopped many times along the way to way for taxis, Gondolas and Sundolas and other work boast.

 

St. Mark’s Square in the background:

 

To be Continued…

[need2bespoiled]

All in all, we paddled over 20km winding our way in and out of Venice, parts of the Grand Canal (which is only allowed after 3pm M-F, after 12p on Saturday and all day on Sunday) which is a decent day, but the pace was very slow compared to what I am used to.

 

We were scheduled to finish about 4:30 but I had paddled their entire route, with extensions and made it back to Certosa Isalnd at about 3:30. I caught a Water Bus about 4pm and was back at our hotel at 5p.

 

After a little relaxing, we decided to try Metropole for dinner. My first choice was Quadri but we couldn’t get a reservation on a Saturday night. We agreed to a 5-course tasting menu against Dee’s choice, so not sure how much agreement there was. Dee chose traditional, and I chose the truffle menu. One food porn pic, past with white truffle:

 

Maybe we’re spoiled, but we understand the effort that went into making this food, however, for the cost, the meal didn’t deliver what we’d hope. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing and we wouldn’t recommend it. We’re just too used to really good food as Portland, Maine has some of the best, and probably the best small city food scene.

 

This morning I went for a run, trying to find the Jewish Ghetto, but got lost, and instead of running about 3m I ended up running 4.77 miles:

 

Hard to stay focused on my run with sites like this along the way:

 

Was another amazing “stroll” through Venice as I am not a fast runner, you would spend a week there and never see nearly everything that is a must see!

 

Our water taxi picked up at 10:30a to head to the train Station. Remember, we have a LOT bags and even with the fact they roll well and it isn’t far from the Water Taxi stop to the train station, and using the ramp, it was a struggle. A porter would bring them to the door, but not inside so I skipped the porter, and wheeled 4 bags while Dee wheeled the two that roll really easily. It wasn’t fun. I don’t recommend traveling like this. We had about a 20 min wait before we boarded our train. Lifting the bags onto the train wasn’t too fun either, but it’s done, and we don’t do to it again, except to roll them to a Taxi at the Rome Termina Station. Done. From here on out, we’ll let someone else deal with them. LOL

 

Once we were nestled in our seats in the quite business car catching up on email and posting on Cruise Critic, a server came around with refreshments and some light snacks. The scenes of Tuscany are very nice for this parts of the ride but the train is so fast, my ears pop when we go through tunnels. Lots of empty seats, so Moonstruck Duck had his own, sadly his Venetian amore didn’t join him.

 

 

 

Once in Rome, we grabbed a quick bite to eat around the corner from our hotel. Our room is fit for a princess:

 

Tomorrow we tour the Vatican, Monday we tour Rome and meet up with our other friends who have arrived or are soon to arrive for dinner. Only a few more days until we catch Constellation!

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[coldweathergirl]

Loving your trip report.

 

Sad to hear about another earthquake in Italy. Hope you weren't affected where you're staying in Rome. Stay safe.

 

See you in a couple of weeks once we board in Athens.

[Woobstr112G]

Your photos are truly magical.....:):):)

 

Bob

[need2bespoiled]

Loving your trip report.

 

Sad to hear about another earthquake in Italy. Hope you weren't affected where you're staying in Rome. Stay safe.

 

See you in a couple of weeks once we board in Athens.

 

We're at the Boscolo Exedra. It's been nice, chosen on points.

 

We could see chandeliers moving in the lobby of the hotel in Venice yesterday, other than that no impact yet. It could impact traffic today as I am not sure if they reopened the metro which was closed to inspect for damage.

 

Off to see the Vatican today.

 

See you onboard in about two weeks!

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[chemmo]

Really enjoying following your journey, Jenna, keep posting and keep safe.

[suekay]

Hi! We're doing the same cruise in reverse in April next year! (well, not the whole thing - I mean the Abu Dhabi to Rome part through the the Suez Canal. 15 nights I think). We've not been on Connie before, only on S class ships, so I'm interested to hear about her. We're not doing it in such grand style though - we've got a Deck 3 ocean view cabin!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hope you're in one of the cabins with large windows 3112-3144. They are the best ov cabins on Connie. We're in 3112 in five weeks

[ptater]

It's Patty and Sue from the South American adventure last December. Sounds like you and Dee are off on a another grand adventure! Give our regards to Dee and you'all have a great time!