Chasing Constellation from Rome to Arabian Nights November 2016

[Woobstr112G]

Beautiful pictures.....:):):)

 

Bob

[benjoon]

Thank you so much to Chemmo and everyone else who has commented. I wasn't sure if anyone was reading. I know few get the opportunities we get to appreciate but I also have plans to take these postings and consolidate them elsewhere someday. But even the best laid plans...

 

Anyway, all of the furniture is new in the last few cruises on both aft balconies. They've actually opened the divided (or the part neared the cabins) for us and our friends so we have a HUGE balcony!

 

Here are some shots of the furniture this morning. There are two HUGE lounge chairs you and hubby could probably squeeze into one for those evenings with brandy on the balcony. There are two standard chaise chairs as well as two reclining chairs with stools and of course the table. Still plenty of space to entertain which we did yesterday for the old and new friends we're touring with in ports.

 

The sailing has been wonderful. I had a brief chat with Ashely, our friend and Assistant Guest Relations Manager yesterday as we having seen each other since embarkation and I gave her two issues we'd like improved. 1. Not surprise, breakfast later on sea days. 2. A portable phone for the upper suites, similar to the one managers have. This is something we've seen on other lines including NCL and Disney and would not be hard to implement.

 

If I've missed any other questions previously, please chime in and I'll try and get answers!

 

What I basically did yesterday, after I missed the time change and yoga:

 

 

Sunset yesterday with friends.

 

The new "veranda" furniture (a little grainy with my iPad this morning:

 

 

 

 

And finally, sunrise. I was working by hr vibration of the ship turning, which is fine by me, as I get sites like this!

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hi Jenna,

 

Great photos. It makes us even more excited for our Jan 11th cruise. I did a bit of browsing at prices for our cruise yesterday and found that 6148 was available. I got Steve onto the phone as I was at work to see how much it was to upgrade to this suite from the Royal suite. Well we were offered the most amazing upgrade fee that we jumped on it. So now we can enjoy our cruise a little bit more.

 

Our cruise itinerary has changed a little. Not the places just how long we will be in port. We don't mind now as we will be sitting back enjoying the suite.

 

Tell your friends next door to take care of the it for us as we wont be far behind them.

 

One question is did you have to ask for the umbrella on the deck or was it already there? I'm sure I will have more questions before you leave.

 

Anita

[bertrande]

Thanks for the review - looking forward to more as we will be on the Connie in February! A couple of questions if you don't mind, mostly related to dining! How is butler service - what have you gotten him/her to assist with? Are you planning to dine at Ocean Liners? We will have two complimentary specialty dining, having booked our cruise a year ago before they removed the perk and are wondering whether to have it twice at OL (not sure if it is permitted) or once each at OL and Tuscan Grille. Were you offered any discount when you booked the specialty dining? Also, how are you finding Luminae in terms of both service and food quality?

 

Thanks for your time!

[cruzndancr]

Great info even for experienced cruiser like myself. Does anyone know how to bypass ship charges to get visa for Oman? Will there be a rendezvous location for cruise critic members to meet and greet each other. Taking the 14 day cruise sailing Monday from Athens. Hope to meet many of you and hope others will join my partner and I in the dance lounge

[need2bespoiled]

Hoping you have no delays in Israel

In October 2014 , they held us up getting off the ship by two hours, than you had to go through scanners and inspection on the dock, we loss about 3 hours

 

We are on the Suez Canal cruise in this coming April , so we waiting to read about your journey through the Suez Canal and ports

 

I am going to try and get caught up on questions and posting, I have a lot of catching up to do after three rather memorable days in Israel.

 

To answer the first question (please let me know if I missed any previous questions), we were delayed a bit, but we were off pretty early and it wasn't too bad. Maybe 15-20 minutes. They did imigration onboard but do check passports each boarding and departing. They added a secret service check which backed up the lines quite a bit, but we were near the front and when they brought Dee a wheelchair since she could not stand for the entire time it would take that did jump us ahead a bit.

 

 

I would try and be one of the first off if you don't have suite priority. I can only assume if someone in a group tour was delayed a bit how this could impact the entire tour. Thankfully port time were late on these days even when we were not overnight.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

Hi Jenna

Loving your posts.

Can I ask do u just request your passports being stamped with immigration

 

Dee was smart enough to think to ask when they stamped the boarding card to have our passport stamped. This happnened at the imigration onboard when we had to present in person. Yeah Dee!

 

Hi Jenna,

 

Great photos. It makes us even more excited for our Jan 11th cruise. I did a bit of browsing at prices for our cruise yesterday and found that 6148 was available. I got Steve onto the phone as I was at work to see how much it was to upgrade to this suite from the Royal suite. Well we were offered the most amazing upgrade fee that we jumped on it. So now we can enjoy our cruise a little bit more.

 

Our cruise itinerary has changed a little. Not the places just how long we will be in port. We don't mind now as we will be sitting back enjoying the suite.

 

Tell your friends next door to take care of the it for us as we wont be far behind them.

 

One question is did you have to ask for the umbrella on the deck or was it already there? I'm sure I will have more questions before you leave.

 

Anita

 

Smart choice. I wouldn't second guess it for a second, except that you won't want to go back! Your Savanah will love having her own bathroom!

 

The umbrella was one of the special requests we've had in advance (and made on infinity). They added one to both Penthouse cabins and they seem to be permanent and much needed additions. It was perfect this morning for breakfast on the balcony on a very sunny day.

 

 

Thanks for the review - looking forward to more as we will be on the Connie in February! A couple of questions if you don't mind, mostly related to dining! How is butler service - what have you gotten him/her to assist with? Are you planning to dine at Ocean Liners? We will have two complimentary specialty dining, having booked our cruise a year ago before they removed the perk and are wondering whether to have it twice at OL (not sure if it is permitted) or once each at OL and Tuscan Grille. Were you offered any discount when you booked the specialty dining? Also, how are you finding Luminae in terms of both service and food quality?

 

Thanks for your time!

 

Butler service has been exemplary. We've had our Butler before (Anita will remember Stoyan) and love him  He assists us with anything we need help with. Dinner reservations, dining in our cabin, fixing things, laundry, shoe shine, forgetting a key card somewhere, but I would urge you to make a request for anything that might make YOUR sailing better.

 

We will dine at Ocean Liners at some point. We considered tonight but the Luminae menu seems good as it is Chic night, so maybe not. As we are in an upper level suite, we do not get charged for specialty dining. If you have complimentary dining you won’t get a discount though you may, if they are slow for additional nights. You should have no problem dining both in Ocean Liners if that is what you chose. We’ve eaten that menu many times so we are not as eager. We’ve had a number overcooked meat dishes in Luminae which is disappointing but service has been excellent and they food generally very good in taste and quality.

 

 

Great info even for experienced cruiser like myself. Does anyone know how to bypass ship charges to get visa for Oman? Will there be a rendezvous location for cruise critic members to meet and greet each other. Taking the 14 day cruise sailing Monday from Athens. Hope to meet many of you and hope others will join my partner and I in the dance lounge

 

I am not worried about the Oman Visa charges so I am not sure, but in general we have found the ship has charged much less than even individual Visa costs in Asia when they have received "group" Visa pricing. There are two meet and great opportunities for Cruise Critic members. For the Celebrity sponsored one, if you sign up, you will have a card, likely on your bed when you board that will likely have it on the first sea day in the morning, about 9:30a. If you don't receive it call guest relations and ask.

 

Many roll calls plan a sail away on the first sea day to gettogether. Since we are in Athens late this was planned for the second night and arrangements have been made on the roll call, I'd urge you to read the (rather long) roll call to get information.

 

Next up to start my Israel reviews, but it will take some time and I have to chose which pictures to share.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[benjoon]

Thanks for the info Jenna. Yes Savannah will love her own bathroom. She doesn't know yet and we are keeping it a secret until we get onboard. We are hoping that there are a few more teens onto this cruise. Not like the Infinity. It will great if she finds friends as she will have loads of space to entertain them.

 

I'm really looking forward to your next adventures. Maybe I should try and do a blog of our Abu Dhabi to Singapore cruise.

 

Anita

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[need2bespoiled]

This was our first time in Israel, and while we have visited many amazing places both previously and on this trip, there is something magical about visiting the holy land. Once we cleared security, our guide Dubi was waiting for Toni, Dee and our friend Mary Anne (the only one of us to previously visit Israel) who we met previously on a cruise and her friend, now our friend Debbie. It was now close to 9am I would The 5 of us toured very well together. We saw many major Christian and Jewish sites, saw many tourists and cruise passengers along the way, but did it with a small group, for a similar price, on our own schedule.

 

Our first stop was Mount of Olives which provided a good overview of the city and the start of the amazing knowledge Dubi provided.

 

From there we headed to the Jaffa gate of the Jerusalem old city.

 

From here we walked through the market which reminded me a lot of the markets in Istanbul. A couple of typical sites.

 

Our first stop in the old city was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where we’re told Jesus’s tomb is located.

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

Jesus’s Tomb:

 

Like a few of the churches we visited there is an Armenian Church, Catholic Church and Greek Orthodox Church here.

 

Here you can see a Greek Orthodox Priest who will do a blessing.

 

Walking further through Jerusalem’s old city by what used to be the old main street

 

And down to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, or commonly called the Wailing Wall. This was very emotional for me as I am Jewish and this is considered a very holy site. It is split by gender with men having more space as supposedly there are more men who pray but there were many more women and it was much more crowded. I had to wait to find a space to actually get to the wall.

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

Women’s Side

 

Men’s Side

 

An I got a decent picture of the Temple Mount

 

 

From there, instead of walking back up through the old City, Dubi went and got the car, which took a while (over 30 minutes), as there was traffic and the streets are narrow.

 

It was now close to 2pm as we were moving slowly and very hungry. We were supposed to be heading to the West Bank and the Palestinian controlled territory but we needed to eat and Dubi chose the restaurant at the Israel Museum. The Restaurant “Modern” was EXECELLENT and the first of many great meals we had in Israel and would highly recommend a visit to the museum which we didn’t really get since the Museum was closed until 4p. Since winter hours were in effect in Bethlehem and the Museum was closed until 4p but open until 9p, Dubi suggested we head directly to Bethlehem. With traffic, by the time we arrived in Bethlehem, it was nearly 5p. Since our guide is Israeli, he could not enter the Palestinian controlled territory, so he handed us off to guide who could which Dubi informed us was sponsored by an Olive Wood souvenir shop he trusted that we would visit at the end, but not be under any obligation to purchase anything. Unfortunately, the normal gate was closed and we had to walk nearly a half a mile to our car in Bethlehem through a maze of gates, fences and with many men returning from work in Jerusalem. For the first time, we didn’t feel safe. We contacted Dubi and asked for a pick-up with less walking which was a challenge to do, but he did arrange it.

 

First ominous sign

 

The gate that was closed

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

The next images were cause for us to be very nervous, as 5 (American) women walking with a guide we didn’t know into the Palestinian controlled part of the West Bank

 

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

In Bethlehem, the primary site we saw was the Church of Annunciation which under major renovation. The line to see the location where we’re told Jesus was born and the manger where he was laid was very long, but our guide brought us in through the exit. It was very crowded but I was able to snap a couple of pics.

And the spot that marks the birth of Jesus

 

and the Manger

 

The moon rising on the church steeple

 

The church was closing and we left shortly after for the winding trip back to the Olive Wood shop where Dee picked up a few small gifts before we heading back to meet up with Dubi.

 

Finally, pitch dark and leaving the West Bank, but we were relived to be back in Jerusalem

 

From there we headed to our hotel for the night instead of the ship. Since I missed my opportunity to see the dead sea scrolls at the Israel Museum, Dubi offered to take me back, which took about an hour round trip. The dome that houses the dead sea scrolls museum at night

 

I have the rest of the Israel Museum on my list for the next visit.

 

I was back at our hotel at the Arcadia Ba'Moshava at 7p which was in the German Colony (named for its history and not its current make-up or ethnic orientation. We left for dinner at 8:30 and a short walk to a neighborhood bistro called Roza. The menu included several local dishes, fresh fish and some ethnic favorites as well. A number of the table had the Chicken Schnitzel

 

Our hotel had very good reviews on trip advisor but we found it a bit utilitarian and more importantly, the bathroom was not clean (hair and mold on the floor around the shower and spots on the floor that looked like footprints. Only two bath towels, no wash clothes and little room in the bathroom. We wouldn’t stay here again. I would probably try to stay closer to the old city or maybe down at the dead sea on a similar itinerary.

 

Next up, Israel day 2 but I have to finish writing it. Between all of the touring and the election in the United States, I am a couple of days behind.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

Thanks for the info Jenna. Yes Savannah will love her own bathroom. She doesn't know yet and we are keeping it a secret until we get onboard. We are hoping that there are a few more teens onto this cruise. Not like the Infinity. It will great if she finds friends as she will have loads of space to entertain them.

 

I'm really looking forward to your next adventures. Maybe I should try and do a blog of our Abu Dhabi to Singapore cruise.

 

Anita

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using

 

We're able to stream live TV / Netflix and HBO go from home so be prepared with the correct adapters and ask your butler if need be to help you get it set-up. iasked for microwave popcorn the other night and had a friend over to watch a TV show we both enjoy (all be it a day late).

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

We’re on vacation, so we decided to be picked up at 8:45a at our hotel. Dubi arrived a little early and while we were eating breakfast he joined us to discuss the itinerary for the day, which we generally left up to him. We didn’t have time to do everything so the museum was skipped and we head off to see Masada and float in the dead sea. Along the way we stopped at the national park that shows where the dead sea scrolls were found. On the way down to 1300 ft BELOW sea level, we marked the spot where sea level is

 

Here is a shot of the buildings from the village that has been excavated below the caves where the dead sea scrolls were found:

 

From there we headed to Masada and chose the easy trip up, in lieu of the 1.5 hour walk up the winding snake trail, we rode the cable car

 

The view from the top of the dead sea is breath taking, my pictures do not do it justice

 

Needless to say, I found the history of Masada very interesting, and will let you watch the movie or read about it elsewhere but it rivals anywhere else we’ve visited for the story behind it.

 

Here is a shot of a typical mosaic wall found here

 

And the changing room of the roman bath house, that had some type of bath, likely added by the Israelis who held up there during the rebellion

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

The steps down into the bath that would be used before entering the steam/hot room

 

The floor and sub floor of the steam / hot room. There was a furnace and hollow walls used to heat the floor and walls

 

The ramp the Roman’s built to break into the city to get to the Israeli rebels

 

A typical arch, you can see the black line which shows the line between what was found in tact and what was reconstructed.

 

a view north and west

 

My typical attempt at a selfie with the dead sea in the background

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

At Dubi’s recommendation, we visited the Crown Plaza Dead see for a lunch (buffet, but a decent one, and probably the only one we’ll do on the trip). Here we head easy access to the dead sea and a pool with dead sea water. The outdoor pool at the Crown Plaza dead sea (not a great pic), and not dead sea water, that is reserved for the indoor pool. The cost including lunch, locker room use, bathroom use, etc was 140 shekels which is about 33 dollars.

 

The beach area

 

The water is very clear, and the sand (mostly salt and other minerals) is very soft:

 

Typical salt covered rock:

 

I couldn’t push my feet down into the VERY buyont water much more than this.

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

As I came back in, a sulfur spring started to bubble up

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

Southern end of the dead sea, which you can the level is low

 

As we drove back towards Ashod and the ship, we were treated to another beautiful sunset

 

I don’t usually go to shows but for some reason, I have on this sailing. I REALLY enjoyed Elyria. It’s a bit racy, and certainly more so than the normal celebrity show. Because it is labeled 18+ it can only be 10:30p or later, but why they had it on a late port day is a bit confusing.

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

It’s a bit Cirque do Soleil like, with more singing and dancing and a bit less acrobatics, but still very good. Some older passengers did leave mid show, no judgements, maybe it was due to the many early tours leaving Haifa.

 

Next up, Nazareth and Galilee.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

CORRECTION: I mixed up the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem with the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the one we visited in Bethlehem is the Church of the Nativity (a bit obviously).

[need2bespoiled]

We arrived in Haiffa port at about 6:30a and the vibrations of the ship as we made the big turn into the port woke me up

 

But it was nice to get a view of the city before we docked

 

We did a “drive by” of the Bahai temple

(unfortunately, all of the pics I took have the power line in them)

 

Next we headed to Nazareth and the REAL church of the Annunciation.

 

 

This church is modern (I can’t remember the year) and has mosaics donated from each country around the world of Mary and Jesus. Of course, the one from the United States is a bit different than the rest, not really a mosaic

 

To be continued . . .

Edited November 11, 2016 by need2bespoiled

[need2bespoiled]

This is a large two level church that is built around what is believed to be the house of Mary and Joseph.

 

Byzantine mosaic floors

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

Beautiful stained glass

 

I have something about the roofs in these buildings

 

From the courtyard on the other side

 

The church is also built on the ancient streets and ruins of Nazareth

 

To be Continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

Mary Poppins?

 

From here we headed on to Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee. We stopped at Sea Level to check out the view.

 

Beautiful fertile land

 

Disgusting litter. This makes me sad, and angry and disappointed for so many reasons

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

After descending into the valley, we stopped at a baptismal site on the Jordan River

 

I would not consider the water here very clean but I did put my feet in. You can buy a bottle and bring some home. I chose not to.

 

From there we headed to lunch in Tiberius which is a resort town on the sea of Galilee. I wouldn’t call it luxurious, or overly beautiful. We had another excellent and inexpensive lunch at a large restaurant that catered to big bus groups but they did an excellent job, it was in a nice setting on the water and while this is generally not our style, again we were impressed with Israeli food.

 

From there we headed to a Kibutz where a 2000 year old boat that was found in the Sea of Galilee was found. This is a modern arch outside the Museum

 

The Museum

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

The Kibutz

 

The 2000 year old boat, that it is said is likely or possible that Jesus fished on

 

Another beautiful sunset as we made our way back to the ship

 

And Constellation peaking at us

 

We’re currently at sea, arriving at Kusadasi in the morning, where instead of Ephesus, where we visited a couple of years ago. we’re heading to Pamukkale which is another Unesco World Heritage Site and an interesting alternative if you are in port late enough (we are there until 8p).

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[CincyAL]

A wonderful job with a wide variety of photos. I feel like I am along for the ride.

Thanks-----

 

We join the Connie in Athens---