Barcelona to Venice With Young Kids on Celebrity Summit - LONG

[2Hoyas]

Below is a summary of our recent 12 day Mediterranean trip on the Celebrity Summit from Barcelona to Venice. This isn’t as much of a review as a blog of our activities, primarily in port. I am hoping it is helpful (and not too boring!) to those interested in logistical info, especially if you are planning to do this trip with young children as we did. Special thanks and appreciation for all those who helped us plan for our trip both knowingly & unknowingly – without the insights from the Cruise Critic membership, it would not have been nearly as fun!

Our group consisted of 4 adults including one grandparent (DMIL), her sister (the boys’ “grand-aunt” (DGA) and 2 boys ages 4 & 6 which made for quite an interesting traveling party. Using our own air arrangements, we left Washington DC at 5pm traveling to Paris CDG with a connecting flight to Barcelona. We were unable to check in ahead of time as we’d purchased the tickets through Expedia but airport check in went very smoothly. The flight itself was easy - to help the kids sleep, we planned “bedtime” at 8pm, turned off videos and tried to get some sleep. This was somewhat successful – they did get a few hours of sleep before arriving in Paris. The travel through CDG to our connecting flight to Barcelona was a bit hectic but we made it with plenty of time to spare since we had a 3 hour layover. FWIW, we would have been challenged to meet the connecting flight that left 1 ½ hours after our flight was scheduled to land – we were about 30 min late in arrival and the airport was very crowded.

We easily found ATMs in the CDG airport and got our first euro for the trip while waiting for the connecting flight to Barcelona. The kids did not sleep on this flight as expected – we just hoped they’d be ok for the day with only the 4 hours of sleep on the transatlantic flight!

In Barcelona, all but 1 of our bags were nearly the first ones off the plane and the last bag was one of the last off, over 30 minutes later! We almost lost hope and were very excited to see it finally arrive. We had pre-arranged pick-up services with Angie’s taxi service to meet us at the airport. This worked great!!! We had 6 people and lots of bags – after a long day of traveling and torrential rains awaiting us, it was nice to have someone to greet us on our arrival! Angie’s taxi brought a large van and a luggage “cart” behind the van which gave us plenty of room inside.

After a 25 or so minute ride, we arrived at the Hotel Apsis Splendid in Barcelona. This hotel was perfect for us! The 4 of us shared a “family room” with 2 single beds for the boys and queen-ish size bed for us. DMIL & DGA shared a regular room with no problems. The bathroom was huge and well equipped. The rates were excellent compared to many of the other options we investigated and it was one of the few places we found that could take a family of 4 in a single room. The hotel was about a 3 minute walk from the Universitat metro stop and about 15 minutes from the top of Las Ramblas.

After arriving & unpacking, we set out in quest of a late lunch. My DMIL and DGA found a quaint restaurant right around the corner but we knew the kids would need more exercise (and a less formal meal) than this would provide so we split up here. I was hoping that La Boqueria would be a good alternative but we found that it had a very limited selection of pre-made food (i.e. sandwiches) and much more fresh ingredients which weren’t what we were looking for (though it was a beautiful and interesting place to walk through). Given the driving rain, we opted to walk back to the hotel and pick up sandwiches at a little shop around the corner to eat in our room.

We brought dinner into the hotel room that night due to rain and kept the kids up until about 8:30pm to minimize jet-lag which worked great! Everyone was fine the next morning – no jet lag! The hotel let us extend check-out in one room until 1pm so we moved all of the bags into the “family room” and headed off for the morning.

We took the metro to La Sagrada Familia which was a very easy journey. We planned for about 2 hours there which was about enough time. The audio guide was very helpful – we got them for all 6 of us though my DS4 tired of his after an hour or so…We got a quick lunch and metro’d back to the hotel. There were several small markets near the hotel so we stopped in one to pick up a few bottles of wine to take with us on the ship.

The hotel called cabs for us to take us to the port. The cabs came within 5 minutes and they were able to specify a mini-van and a sedan to make sure we had room for all of us and our bags. Another 15 or 20 min later and we were at the port. There was a sizeable fee (approx 10 euro per cab?) for the “called” cabs vs. flagging one down on the street. In the end, this was ok for us as I’m not sure we could have fit into 2 regular sedans and might have needed 3 cabs…

Check-in with Celebrity was very easy – we were on the ship within about 20 minutes. Our room was smaller than our last cruise on the Disney ship but very functional and well designed. For the kids, we had a pull down bunk with a small rail (not suitable, IMHO, for kids age 4 and under) and a sofa bed that pulled out into a single. We found storage for all of our clothes & suitcases and got settled in. We met up with some of our Cruise Critic friends at the pool bar for a nice visit – great to meet everyone we’d been “talking” to on-line. The boys were completely wound up so we didn’t stay for long…

I won’t spend much time on the sea days – suffice it say that we enjoyed having the time to relax & recoup after busy port days. It was very nice to have one the first full day of our trip. Everyone enjoyed sleeping late! We did a combination of ship activities such as the wine tastings, time by the pool, time in the gym and on the athletic court and time in the Fun Factory for the kids.

Our first port day was Villefranche. We left the kids in the Fun Factory for the day, my DMIL and DGA had a Celebrity-sponsored tour and we were on our own. Note that the Fun Factory opens at 9am each day and only opens earlier to those with Celebrity-sponsored tours (it opens 15 min prior to your meeting time). You can hire an in-room babysitter if you need to be out of the room earlier but there is a minimum 3 hour charge for this. We were lucky and were able to use my DMIL to watch the kids so we could get an early start so we didn’t run into any problems here…

We had printed bus schedules ahead of time and decided to take the 100 bus to Nice and then the 82 bus to Eze. We wanted to get out early and have plenty of time to get back on the ship and had hoped that we could bring the kids back to port for an hour or two before leaving – didn’t want to risk it leaving with our kids and without us! We met in the theater for the tender around 8am and were ashore about 40 min later. Once there, we walked about 5 – 10 minutes to the bus stop (mostly uphill) to wait for the bus. The 100 bus was late and very crowded but we managed to get on and make it to Nice. We had about a 25 minute wait for the next one so we walked around a bit, found an ATM, and headed back to the bus stop. The bus arrived just on time and it was another 20 min or so to Eze.

We spent about 3 hours wandering Eze and eating lunch. It was great to explore the little alleys and shops. After lunch, we walked the Nietzsche path down to Eze Bord de Mer which took just over 45 minutes. This was a very pretty hike but definitely more of a “hike” than a “walk”. While there are some stairs along the way, the path is very rocky and uneven! At the bottom, we realized the 100 bus was the fastest route back to Villefranche so we took that. In 15 minutes, we were back in Villefranche, walked around a little, and quickly caught a tender back to the ship by 3:30pm. The kids were not particularly interested in going ashore so we spent the rest of the day on board…

The next stop was Livorno. We arranged a private driver the DriverInRome which we would highly recommend. This gave us a lot of flexibility with the kids and gave us some extra help we didn’t know we’d need! Our driver took us to Pisa first – we had purchased tickets in advance for 2 of us to climb the tower (no kids under 8 allowed!). Due to traffic, we got their after our 9am entry time. Our driver parked very near the tower and then rushed to the ticket office to get our tickets changed to 9:30 with no problems. We really enjoyed the walk up & down and the views from the top!

After some pictures and souvenirs, it was off to San Gimignano. This was a long drive through some beautiful countryside – maybe 1 ½ hours. Once there, we walked through the town, got pizza for the kids, took some pictures and shopped. Our driver helped my DGA negotiate a deal for some beautiful pottery place settings which took arrived back in the States 2 ½ weeks later. He then took us to a local winery where we had a private room in the basement with lessons on how to taste wine and samples of their white, many reds, olive oil and balsamic vinegar along with a Tuscan meal. Our purchased wine arrived in the States about 2 weeks later! After this busy day, we headed back to the ship (another 1 hour) to rest for our next day.

We had a different driver from DriverInRome our next day in Rome, again for all 6 of us. This was another action packed day. After an hour and a half journey to Rome, we started at the Coliseum. We pre-purchased tickets and our driver guided us to the front of the line where we got in with no wait! We spent about an hour here but could have used much more. We then went on for a brief stop in Trevi Fountain and then on to climb the Spanish Steps. Our driver asked us about our lunch preferences and we decided to do a little “fast food” pizzeria to maximize our time in Rome.

After lunch, he drove us to the Vatican where he parked literally across the street from the entrance. He had made some calls in advance and timed it such that again we had no wait and we walked right in to buy tickets!!! He provided us a map on where to meet him and we spent about 2 hours in the Vatican and St. Peter’s. We could have spent much longer there but it was about the right amount of time for the kids. They really enjoyed the statues & Egyptian exhibit. We met our driver after the Vatican and he had us back on the ship by 5.

The next day we’d scheduled a half day morning tour for all 6 of us with Celebrity to tour Pompeii. The bus stopped at a Cameo factory for about 30 minutes and then on to Pompeii. Pompeii was a great day for all of us – there was a lot of flexibility for the kids to run around and explore while the adults listened to the guide. Most of our tour was focused on the building and life style of the people of Pompeii instead of the destruction of the eruption so there were no issues with suitability for the kids. We returned to the ship around 12:30pm and got lunch.

DGA and I decided to walk through Naples for a bit after lunch. It was definitely a “city walk” but we did get stop at a local coffee place for an excellent espresso and stumbled across a beautiful mall with huge glass ceilings. The ship itself was docked in an industrial part of town so you need to walk a bit to get more into the city area through some of the less scenic parts of town…

In Athens, MIL and DA had booked a Celebrity-sponsored tour, we left the kids on the ship, and we booked a walking tour with Athens Walking Tours. We had a few logistical challenges in the morning as we needed to leave before the Fun Factory opened to meet our guide but we were able to make it work…

We walked about 25 minutes from the ship to the Piraeus metro station. They say “just follow the water” and this is very accurate. The metro station is about 1 block off the water in a big yellow building. It is near the E6 port area. There are maps of the port along the way but we didn’t see the metro stop noted on any of them. The metro was easy to navigate – we were meeting our guide at the Syntagma stop at 9:30am and made it by 9:15am, including a metro transfer, after leaving the ship around 8:15…

Our tour guide from Athens Walking Tours met us in the metro just before 9:30 where we met up with the 3 other people on our tour. The tour was a 3 hour walking tour ending at the Acropolis. The tour was not as much focused on seeing all the sites but more on sharing the culture and history of Athens and its people. We learned a lot and really enjoyed it but were glad to have left the kids at home as it was definitely targeted for adults. The walk itself was very easy though the last bit up to the Acropolis was steep.

The tour ended on top of the Acropolis. After walking around for a bit, we headed down for lunch based on a recommendation from our guide. We found the metro back to Piraeus and were back on the ship by 4pm.

The next day was in Santorini. DMIL and DGA had a Celebrity tour and the 4 of us were on our own. We took the tender (about 40 min total to get to shore from the time we got to the Celebrity Theater to wait) and decided that we would all walk the stairs to the top. There were very light crowds that day and the boys had a lot of fun walking up the steps. It took us a little over 25 minutes including a few picture stops. We took our picture at the top on stair 889!

After a snack for the boys to celebrate their big walk, we had planned to take the bus to Oia. There was a bus strike that day and no public transportation in that direction. Cabs were few & far between so we decided to stay in Fira and not risk getting stuck in Oia with no way to get back to the ship. While we were disappointed not to go, we could relax and have an easy day in Fira.

After walking and shopping, we ran into DMIL and DGA. They definitely got the better end of the morning as their bus tour took them to Oia and other parts of the island! We all decided to return to the ship via funicular and then my husband and I planned to return for lunch. We waited only 3 minutes for the funicular, took the short ride down, caught a tender and were back on the ship very quickly. We fed the kids and took them to the Fun Factory, returning via tender for lunch.

After another walk back up (this time 17 minutes with no stops!), we had a beautiful lunch in Fira overlooking the town and harbor. We did some more shopping and then walked back down to catch one of the last tenders. The walk down took a bit longer than we expected but was under 25 minutes.

Our next stop was Dubrovnik where the ship was originally supposed to dock but then tendered. We decided to do this port on our own. After taking the tender, we found an ATM for local currency (Kuna) and then bought bus tickets at the newsstand near the ATM. The bus went straight to the old port –about 20 minutes –and cost about $1.50 per person each way. Celebrity was also running a shuttle service which was $10 per person for the day.

Based on a tip to reduce some stair climbing, we “walked the walls” backwards. The kids loved this port – lots of running, places to explore and stairs to climb! The walls took about 2 hours for us to get around with kids. There was a bathroom stop about ½ way through which we wished we’d know ahead of time as we had to leave the walls for a bathroom break about 200 yards before we came across it! Walking backwards worked until the last 30 min or so – we ended up running into the people who were starting their walks going the “right” way and it made for a very crowded end to our walk.

Afterwards, we walked, ate and shopped. Most places would take euro (at their translation rate) and many of the smaller places did not take credit cards…I was excited to find the Buza bar “Cold Drinks” outside the wall as I’d seen it in travel magazine. It was as beautiful as it looked in pictures! We did not stay for drinks as it was very windy that day but I hope some day to go back! We took the local bus back to the port (no wait) which was very crowded. We were able to get seats for the kids but not for the adults. Arriving back at the bus stop, the tender came quickly and we were back on the ship with plenty of time to spare. The ship left at 5pm and it was nice to sit on the balcony and watch it sail away…

Venice was our last port of call. We were up early to watch the ship sail in. It arrived at 10:30am. Due some delays in getting our group moving, we decided to eat lunch on board and left the ship about 2pm. Celebrity offered a shuttle to St. Marks from the pier for $20 per person (kids were free). Since the vaporetti were 6.50 euro each, this was a good deal for us!

We got to St. Marks about 25 min later. We had prearranged a small boat tour via Avventure Bellissime which met near there at 4:30. We walked around for a while including a hilarious pigeon feeding experience. The boys loved that!

The boat tour held 8 people, of which we were 6. It was about an hour on the boat through some small canals as well as the Grand Canal. It was so nice to have a small tour and see some of the “side streets” in addition to the Grand Canal. After the tour, we decided that it would be best to head back to the ship as the boys were definitely ready to be done with touring for the day. We brought them back via the shuttle (about a 15 min wait), had dinner, and left them with the DGA & DMIL so we could head back into Venice.

My husband & I went back into Venice on the Celebrity shuttle and enjoyed seeing St. Marks at night as well as walking around the city. We enjoyed the challenge of following the signs to Rialto and back again with a stop for gelato along the way…we got the 2nd to last Celebrity shuttle for the night (10:40pm) and headed back to the ship. My DMIL had gotten the kids earlier and put them to bed so we were hoping they’d be rested for our last day.

The next morning was our last on the ship…because we weren’t flying out until the following day, we had a late disembarkation time (8:50am). We were called to leave at 8:55am and took the bus to get our baggage. Once we got our bags in the port, there was a free shuttle bus run by the port that took us to Piazzale Roma where we could leave our bags for the day. Note that the port also offered baggage storage but we did not use it. The port baggage required pick-up by 5pm and we were worried about finding transportation to our hotel at that time as there were very few taxis in sight – if we couldn’t find them when the ship was disembarking, we didn’t expect to have any better luck when the port was closing for the day…

We waited for the bus to Piazzale Roma for about 30 minutes. It is a quick trip (less than 5 minutes) and about a 15 or 20 min walk if you choose that route but definitely not one you could do with any significant amount of baggage. Once in Piazzale Roma, we went to the baggage drop off next to the Pullman Bar. They are open from 6am – 9pm daily and charge 4 euro per bag for storage. We dropped off our bags and headed to the vaporetti. This was confusing for us as many vaporretti go to the same place but some make more stops than others. We received conflicting advice and got on a “slow” bus. It got much more crowded along the way and stopped at every stop on the Grand Canal.

 

We had reservations for the Doge’s Secret Itineraries tour at 10:45am and were in serious jeopardy of making it. Since we’d walked it the night before, we decided to get off the vaporetti at Rialto and rushed to St. Mark’s. Fortunately, our tour had started but not left the main area and they allowed us to join it late. We were supposed to be there at 10:15 to pick up tickets but arrived at 11am instead. By purchasing our tickets ahead, we skipped all lines! The Secret Itineraries tour was very interesting for us, not as much for the kids but they did ok.

Afterwards, we walked around the Palace a bit including the prison area and the Bridge of Sighs, then left to find lunch. Lunch was probably our biggest frustration of the whole trip L. It had started to rain so we walked a couple of blocks from St. Marks and ducked into a restaurant for a break. The meal was ok but the trouble started when the check came. The restaurant took our credit card and then came back and said (in broken English) that it would not go through and required us to pay in cash which we did and left the restaurant, frustrated as we had not planned for the additional euros for lunch and needed to make an additional ATM stop. Upon returning to the States, we discovered that the charge DID go through – so we paid twice for our meal. While we are protesting the charge with the credit card company, we did not think to get proof of our payment in cash so we’re not sure what the credit card company will be able to do. We have no address or phone # for the restaurant to contact them to protest it…lesson learned!

After lunch, we decided to head back to Piazzale Roma to get our bags and head to the hotel since it was still raining and we were getting tired. Given our experience in the morning on the vaporett, we decided to walk. This turned out to be the highlight of our trip to Venice! It took us close to 2 hours including shopping stops, snack stops and some breaks but what a great chance to see the city. The weather cleared up and the walk energized us so we thoroughly enjoyed our last few hours in Venice! We found a little dinner place near Piazzale Roma and stopped there before getting our bags.

Note that we needed to pay cash for dinner and went looking for an ATM since we didn’t have many euros after our lunch adventure. The term “ATM” was not common here but when I asked for a “Bancomat” I got good advice on where to go. Turns out that the one in Piazzale Roma was broken but there were several around the Ferrovia train station that we could use instead.

Baggage pick-up was a breeze and we were able to grab 2 cabs (around 7pm) to take us to our hotel. We decided to stay at the Courtyard by Marriott by the airport. Cab fare was about 30 euro each for the 2 cabs. Our hotel room was very modern and sizeable – like an American style Courtyard – with 2 full beds for the 4 of us. They had inexpensive internet access for us and the room rates were extremely reasonable. We did not get breakfast included in our rate. It was 10 euro and since we are not big eaters, we decided to get something at the airport instead.

We asked for the Courtyard shuttle to take us to the airport at 8am and it was there waiting for us as promised. The shuttle was free and only 3 minutes from the airport. This made for a very relaxed morning for us. Once we got to the airport, the crowds were sizeable and we were worried about missing our flight at 10am. Fortunately, we moved through the line and were checked in by 9am. Security was a breeze and we were able to get breakfast (very cheap) before boarding our flight.

Our flight left on time which made our CDG connection easy. We were worried about the 1 hr 25 min connecting time given some of the horror stories we’d heard (and our trip on the way over) but made it from gate to gate in about 30 minutes including having to go through security again. The CDG flight left a little late but we still landed on time. The kids made good use of the in seat video and gaming so the flight itself, while long, was much easier than expected. We made it through customs and to the cabs (with all of our bags) about 45 min after landing at Dulles. I think that’s a record!

Overall, we had a fantastic trip! The Celebrity crew was wonderful, especially with our kids. They really went out of their way to help us and make this trip as easy as possible! All of us had a great time – each getting something different out of it!

In closing, here are some things that really worked for us which may be of interest:

- Bringing car seats. We felt much safer having the kids properly secured in our taxi and car rides.

- Bringing snacks – we brought granola bars and similar snacks with us which were great when the kids got hungry. We didn’t see anything like this in the buffets and more than once, a granola bar staved off the hunger until or next meal (or broke up the boredom of whatever we were doing at the time!)

- Planning for “run around” time every day. Both in the ports and on the ship, the kids needed room to move. We found the sports deck usually unoccupied and a great place to burn off energy without fear of being too loud or getting in the way of others!

- The Fun Factory was fantastic! When we were on board, there were only 40 or 50 total kids and we never saw more than 10 – 15 in the Fun Factory at a time. They provided a variety of themed activities all day, the staff were very engaging and competent. We had planned on using it on a limited basis but our DS6 begged to go every day so we got a lot more use out of it than we expected!

- Early seating worked out well although we ended up doing casual dining more times than expected. We wanted to get the kids to bed around 9 each night which was impossible with the late seating. That said, it was rushed sometimes to get back from port, change clothes if needed and then go straight to dinner (and we weren’t sure the kids would be ready for 1 ½ hours of sitting after our long day of touring) so we did use the casual dining several times which was fine.

- If you are a soda drinker, they are about $2.00 on board. We bought 6 packs of soda in a few of the ports for significantly less and put them in our fridge.

- We bought a “mei tai” which is a portable “pack” that you can wear to carry a smaller child. Maximum weight it holds was 40 lbs which worked for our DS4. This was invaluable to carry him when he was tired and could fit easily in a backpack when not in use.

- We picked up nylon “wind pants” for the boys from LL Bean for about $15 ea. These were very easy to pack in our bag for the day and allowed the kids to be comfortably attired in shorts and have appropriate cover-up as needed later in the day. We used them at St. Peter’s as we’d heard we needed to be appropriately attired (covered knees & shoulders) and they did check – we saw people turned away. They also came in handy on rainy days and when it got cooler in the day…

- If the financials work in your favor, private guides were a great way to go! With 6 in our party, it was more cost effective and we could customize the tour for our group composition. We didn’t want the kids to slow down a large group and going on our own made this issue disappear.

- Plan to do something different in each port. Since we had little ones with us, we did less museums and more exploring. Having some days on our own and some tours really worked well for us.

- Be flexible – we each identified the one or two things we were most looking forward to on the trip ahead of time. This helped us prioritize our time know what wasn’t essential so we could change pace to accommodate the group’s needs.

- Get some sleep - we were up every port day at or before 7am to make it out around 8am for the day. It was tough to get the kids to sleep on time but we tried our best to avoid overtired kids the next day.

- Get a credit card with no exchange fees ahead of time. We picked up a Capital One card several months before we left. It had no exchange fees as promised and allowed us to purchase entry tickets for our trip in advance as well.

- Purchase tickets in advance if you can. We saved a lot of time waiting in line by securing tickets before we left to Pisa, the Coliseum, and the Secret Itineraries tour.

[buckeye7]

Thanks for posting this! We are leaving in June for Venice - Barcelona. Our kids are older (15, 12) but it was still very helpful to hear about the logistics of the ports. Sounds like a great trip (which reflects your good planning and your good attitude!)

[Belle]

Thank you for the review.

 

When you left the ship in Naples

did you turn left or right for your

walk to town and found the glass

ceiling mall. Also how long did

it take.

Thank You

[chipmaster]

Thanks for the nice review and gets me even more excited about my upcoming cruise. We'll be visiting many of the same ports.

 

A few questions and advice if any.

 

1) Snacks: Were you allowed to bring ziplocked bags of snacks or was it strictly enforced only packaged foods only. I've been thinking of packing cereal/muffins from the morning breakfast for the tours as well as water in REI bottles

 

2) In Florence/Pisa, I'm planning on a reverse tour. Visit Florence first and hit the Duma and Academia then return to Pisa. That was what is being recommended by my tour guide as a better order. Your thoughts, did you see the tour busses roll into Florence similar time as your arrival?

 

3) In Rome it sounds like PM is far better time to visit the Vatican. I assume you avoided that by reversing order of what the ship tours do. Similar encouragement by my private tour operator to do the vatican in the PM.

[2Hoyas]

Hi there,

I'll try to answer your questions the best I can...

 

Belle, the mall was to the left several blocks from the port and then up several blocks away from the water. Unfortunately, I don't know that we could find it again - we got lucky running into it on our way back to the ship and found it a very unexpected surprise :)

 

Chipmaster, I didn't see anyone check for food at any time, only alcohol. We found packaged (durable) snacks to be a better deal for us as they usually ended up at the bottom of our knapsack and somewhat crushed during the journey but of course we were traveling with kids :) . Water bottles should be no problem - we refilled ours several times during the trip as they were expensive to purchase in most ports (except Greece, for some reason where they were only about .50 euro). We did not do Florence so I don't have any advice for you there. Pisa was crowded but definitely not unmanageable when we got there around 9:15am. We heard from both our Pisa & Rome guide that the Vatican was best in the afternoon around 2. When we got there around 2:15pm there literally was no wait which we were very pleased with. Inside the crowds were reasonable, all things considered...

 

Enjoy your trips!!!

[Tammiko]

This is so wonderful for me! You have some fabulous info in here for us as we are doing the same cruise in November with our daughter who has just turned five. I am a little concerned about the hours of the kids program though. We have never traveled with Celebrity or RCCL before so I'm a bit shocked about the Fun Factory not opening until 9! On Carnival it is the same time for everyone. Lanie loves Camp Carnival and hates touring! So I was not in the least bit worried until now as I knew that she would have a way better time with them, but if they don't open... You said that you can pay for in-room sitter but I am not as comfortable with this... if it was group sitting it would be different. Besides, a three hour minimum? Since it is just my husband and I traveling with her it doesn't leave us many options though. We had been hoping to share some private tours at a few of the places that we really wanted to see that she wouldn't enjoy. It certainly won't work though if we can't get out until after nine! And possibly later when waiting for tenders after signing her in!:( The ones where we will just be wandering won't matter, we'll drag her around to those and convince her she is having fun.;)

 

At any rate, this was a great, informative review. Thank you very much for the wonderful work you put into it!

[chipmaster]

Hi there,

I'll try to answer your questions the best I can...

 

Belle, the mall was to the left several blocks from the port and then up several blocks away from the water. Unfortunately, I don't know that we could find it again - we got lucky running into it on our way back to the ship and found it a very unexpected surprise :)

 

Chipmaster, I didn't see anyone check for food at any time, only alcohol. We found packaged (durable) snacks to be a better deal for us as they usually ended up at the bottom of our knapsack and somewhat crushed during the journey but of course we were traveling with kids :) . Water bottles should be no problem - we refilled ours several times during the trip as they were expensive to purchase in most ports (except Greece, for some reason where they were only about .50 euro). We did not do Florence so I don't have any advice for you there. Pisa was crowded but definitely not unmanageable when we got there around 9:15am. We heard from both our Pisa & Rome guide that the Vatican was best in the afternoon around 2. When we got there around 2:15pm there literally was no wait which we were very pleased with. Inside the crowds were reasonable, all things considered...

 

Enjoy your trips!!!

 

Thanks...:D

[vapersecutor]

Belle,

 

I'm pretty sure the mall is Galleria Umberto. It is a beautiful building (about 100 yrs old). I don't think the shops inside are all that interesting but maybe that has changed. From the waterfront it is behind (maybe 2 blocks) and just to the left of Castel Nuovo. It's across the street from the Teatro di San Carlo which is Europe's oldest opera house which is also open for visits.

 

Mary

[wurzig]

Thank you, 2Hoyas for every word of this. We will be taking this exact cruise starting June 28th. Our daughter is graduating from h.s. and we are taking her and her best friend--it is to be their surprise grad gift. We have never taken a cruise, so we (are not as brave as you), and have booked the Celebrity-offered land tours, (and we definitely don't need any child care), but still, reading this has been quite helpful. If for nothing else, I'll buy sodas for us at all the ports! :)

 

I have been to Europe several times, and to me, this is one of those, 'if it's Tuesday, I must be in Belgium' tours, (maybe all cruises are, I dunno), but I agree that Rome and the Athens area can not be seen in just a few hours.

 

Since we have NEVER done this before, I have a (possibly silly), question for anybody who wants to contribute--I must drink over a gallon of water a day.....is there an abundance of bottled water that one can grab right before leaving the ship for these land tours? (I assume they have bottled water on the paid tour buses, but not sure.....however, I must sip water from the moment I wake up--bottled water is my best friend).

 

Also, I am asking any contributor: are 2 teenage girls going to have fun on the Summit? Both are quiet, introverted but cute blondes who know how to laugh......but sometimes they need a nudge to get going......

 

Oh, one more thing: thank you for the heads-up with the credit card mess. Things like this just burn me up---they know you aren't coming back to yell at them! We will be flying in a day early to stay in Barcelona and staying one day later in Venice, just as you did, so we will be on our toes. I hope that we don't have this happen to us, but if we do, we will be sure to get a cash receipt and also write down information about the restaurant such as the address, etc.

[2Hoyas]

Hi Tammiko,

Sorry if I caused you any distress on the Fun Factory hours. I wonder if our experience was different as there were a much smaller number of kids on the ship than might be there in high season and they didn't have the same level of staffing? When we dropped the kids off in the mornings, there were usually only 1 or 2 other kids there...

 

They said there were about 40 - 50 kids onboard when we were there and it is closer to 200 in high season. The staff were really helpful and might have different policies (or practices) with more kids on board or might be willing to work with you for those days you need the extra help. I honestly can't say enough good things about the program and the people working it!

 

Hi Wurzig,

With regards to water, Celebrity was selling water as you left the ship at each port but we found it pretty expensive - from what I recall, it cost the same or more than in port. We ended up bringing our own water bottles with us and refilled them every morning before leaving. They also had fresh glasses for you upon returning to the ship every day for free which was nice. We were surprised with cheap bottled water in Greece - only .50 euro for a 16 oz bottle.

 

On a happy note, we did get a credit from our credit card company on the double restaurant bill which was a very unexpected and pleasant surprise! We really thought that was a lost cause!

 

I don't have teenagers so don't have a definitive answer there but my guess is that they'll really enjoy it. I would think the port visits would be very fun as there are so many new things to see each day. On the Summit, we found there were a lot of things to do but spent more time doing nothing...it was nice just to relax on the sea days. There was a lot of different kind of music playing throughout the day, the fitness center & spa were very nice and the pools as well...we didn't do the shows at night so I don't have much insight there...they also had movies showing nightly if that would be more their speed. I think there is also a "teen hang-out" area but we didn't check it out...

 

Best of luck to you both!

[junglejane]

Thanks 2Hoyas! Enjoyed your review. We are on the June 16 sailing and will be taking our 2 DD's, ages 7 and 11. We have private tours lined up in five ports. I'm a little worried about the 7 year old being worn out by 4 straight days of all day tours when we do Naples/Rome/Florence/Nice. Also we have early dining, but may need to use the casual dining alternative some nights. I especially think we may need to skip the 3rd formal night if the kids are too worn out.

 

--Junglejane

[wurzig]

Thank you very much 2Hoyas! We just got through high school graduation this week and now I am starting to stress about getting things together for the cruise.....it'll all come together--it always does! :) The girls definitely like to swim and go to the movies......

 

Thanks for the heads-up with the water bottles.....we'll be sure to carry some with us.....

 

We are breaking all kinds of heat records in S. California right now, so it might even be cooler in the Mediterranean....(a girl can only hope!)

[nycglitter]

Thanks for the amazing review! But I have just one question?

 

Did you write down all of this info in a journal? Please say yes. I couldn't stand it if you could remember all that detail, traveling with kids and able to recall it for this review....:o

 

Loved the detail! We are going without our kids (17 & 12) for this "second honeymoon" vacation. I will miss them, but I am very excited about all of the ground we will be able to cover without them!

 

I am going to keep a journal because all of the ginkgo biloba in the world would not allow me to remember all of the fine details!:p

[Tammiko]

2 Hoyas, thank you for your reasurrances, but I'm afraid that it will be even quieter when we travel! We are on the November 15th and they only had 2 kids registered in her age group! I think I'm in trouble! LOL

 

Oh well, it will all be good in the long run. We only have one private tour booked at the moment and that day we will just have to figure something out!

 

Thanks again!

[2Hoyas]

Yep - I did keep a journal. I had gotten so much help from folks on this board that I was hoping to pass along what information I could (not to mention that I wanted to remember the trip too :)) Having a lot of the detail and advice with me from others' experiences really made the trip a lot less stressful for us, especially since we did a lot of the ports on our own.

 

NYC, I hope you all have a fantastic time!! We really enjoyed traveling with our kids but it definitely changes the pace and direction you travel in!

 

Tammiko, I think you'll find the Fun Factory people easy to work with and pretty accommodating. I'm sure it will all work out!

[10july86]

Wurzig-

 

We're also traveling with our daughter who just graduated from high school. She's 18 and very excited about the trip. There are several others on the ship around their age so they will be fine. Have you signed up for the Celebrity Cruise Connections Party. If not, please do so so that your girls can meet the others.

 

Brianne