susietb

Thank you so much for the input!

Will post when we decide! Luxor is part of the Karnak Tour.

We only can do one of these excursions.

Which one would you pick? Have already been to Cairo's Pyramids.

We tried Oceana and found it a little too sedentary for our taste. We will continue on Celebrity and eat in Luminae with the "cool kids."

If you are very adventurous try the Mt. Laimuiga Volcano Hike.

Loved them. We are going again in February. Cannot recommend them highly enough.

You just have to fill out a form at guest relations. There is a notice about it in Daily Program. (This was for leaving in Haifa and reboarding in Ashdod, last year)

If you are thinking about hiring a taxi at the port, you might be better off reserving in advance. We used johnnystourservice.com with serveral people on our roll call. He was fabulous. Picked us up at the pier and gave us a wonderful tour that included Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi. We stopped at a beautiful restaurant just north of Amalfi.

He will tailor a tour to whatever you want. He was highly recommended on Trip Advisor.

There were no taxis waiting outside at 3 am We would have preferred to take a ships transfer but none were offered at that time. We used istanbul airport transfers dot com which was recommended to us on this board. There were quite a few passengers leaving early with us, but they all pre-arranged transportation ahead of time. The cost last September was 35 Euros. We were at the airport before well before 4 am.

They allow passengers off the ship from as soon as they dock at 2 PM the first day. About 2 days into the cruise everyone gets a form to fill out listing their preferred debarkation time, so there will be enough immigration agents on duty.

We debarked at 3:15 am to make a 6:00 am flight. Just be sure to have your Turkish Visa in hand.

We used istanbul airport transfer dot com. It was 35 euros at 3:30 am for two people. (Last September) You need to make a taxi reservation, as there are no taxis waiting at that hour. They were very reliable. We were at the airport in 40 minutes.

We left the ship at 3:00 am for a 6:30 flight. We pre-arranged a taxi and the drive at that time of night was about 45 minutes. Give yourself at least 15 minutes to get down the gangway. Yes, there is a line and you must go through immigration in the pier terminal. Be sure that you have your Turkish visa in hand. You also have to go through a luggage scanner at the airport entrance before you check in with the airline, then another immigration check at the airport. After that it's a lovely new terminal and all the shops and lounges were open. (This was in September 2014)

Most of their age restrictions are quite arbitrary, so the only thing we can do is book our own independent excursions and laugh at all the overweight and out of shape younger people on the ships excursions who are paying twice as much for the same activity.

By the way, Princess and Cunard do not have nearly as many caveats.

Just ask your butler and he will bring as many as you want to your room at any time of day. No charge.

Yes. He asked for a check for $250 which he returned at the end of the tour.

We stayed in the Ciragon Palace last year pre cruise. The bellman told us to use the bottled water provided even to brush our teeth!

We docked in Cherborg in September and we used Trevor at

american d-day tours.com. He was excellent and made the whole event come alive for us. We were a group of eight on our roll call.

It takes from 10-15 minutes to walk with your luggage (if it is on wheels and you can handle it easily) to the People Mover. People Mover including waiting time 10 minutes to Piazzale Roma. Then a 15 minute walk over a bridge, the stairs have narrrow risers and if you are reasonably fit, it's not a problem. Then there is another 10 minute walk on flat service to the entrance to Santa Lucia Station. The main entrance has some stairs to navigate, but if you go a few yards farther there is a an icon for a handicapped sign which has a sloped ramp that deposits you at the side entrance to the terminal. I would set aside 45 minutes to make your train.

We took the Roissy Bus which makes three stops in CDG Airport to "opera" right near Galleries Lafayette for 11 Euro per person . The bus leaves every 15 minutes and was very quick. You can then take the metro or a short cab ride to you hotel.

When we hiked there last February the guide supplied everyone with a walking stick. I think that bringing your own poles might be too cumbersome as a good deal of this trail is trekking through roots and mud as well as crawling on your hands and knees in many places. We basically used the stick to hoist ourselves to the next slippery rock.

Has anyone done the African Safari cruise tour with Celebrity?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Just returned from a cruise that stopped in Cherbourg for from 6 hours, and we used Trevor Standefor of American D-Day Tours. He was wonderful. We saw St. Mere Eglese, Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery at Coleville. He made the whole event come alive for us.

We've just returned(September 21) from Istanbul, over nighting there after a Celebrity Cruise.

This was our third visit there and we found the people and places there to be as wonderful, exciting and safe as on all of our previous trips.

Like any big city, you have to be aware of your surroundings, but we walked and trammed everywhere and didn't have any concerns.

We just returned from our 14 vacation on the Constellation (starting in Amsterdam and disembarking in Istanbul on September 20th.

We had a wonderful time!!!!! The crew and the entertainment staff were wonderful. I don't know about the activities on the sea days, as this was a very port intensive cruise and we shared excursions with to Bruges, Cherbourg, Vigo, Lisbon, Almeria, Malta, Kusadasi and Istanbul with all our cruise critic buddies. There seemed to be plenty of things to do, and we had trouble deciding among all the activities. The indoor/outdoor pools were great and the ship was in great condition.

We always found something delicious to eat. It just goes to prove that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Just returned from Valletta (we were there on September 15th). The taxi cost to the Hypogeum was 20E one way. We elected to take the bus back (only a couple of blocks away) for 1.5E each, very easy. It let us off at the entrance to Valletta and we walked through the city to the Barraca Gardens and the lift back to the ship.

It was Hot!!!

This was our second trip here. The first time we went to a taxi booth by the pier and arranged for a 3 hour tour to The Blue Grotto and Medina. Well worth

the 100E.

is there a stop on the X80 that is near the Central Market?