sunshine nana

There are no self-laundry facilities on Celebrity. You will have to send them out and pay. That's one plus on Princess.

My motion sickness story. On our first cruise to Alaska, I had no problem probably because we were always close to shore. So when we took the New England and Canada cruise out of NYC, I did not take any pills even though I have always gotten "car sick". The first morning, I had my coffee in bed and immediately threw up. DH called our steward and she was wonderful about cleaning up the whole mess, getting us new bedding etc. (we gave her a nice tip later) and DH got me some medicine from the store. No one said anything about seeing the ship's Dr. or staying in the cabin.

I was careful about not eating much after I took the pills that day and the rest of the trip, I was fine. This was an Oct. cruise.

On a later cruise, we heard that stewards have to report any sign of sickness they notice in the cabin or bathroom. I now take pills the first 2 days and I have been fine.

On another thread, I wrote about the Lacaris War Museum. Near the gardens in Valetta. Very good tour if you have interest in WWII history.

I would swallow the extra "fee" and take some Euro with you. Just look at it as part of the price of the trip. Then if you have any problem, you can still get a bus or taxi or food. We buy Euro from a local travel agent that will give us plenty of small bills. We learned that lesson from a trip to Copenhagen where we paid for two hot dogs with a E50 and got very little change. We were jet lagged and didn't understand the currency yet. Now we make sure we arrive in a city with E5's and E10's.

We had a driver for 8 of us to the Amalfi coast that we very affordable.

A couple we met on our Alaska cruise in 2004 checked that they had an upset stomach and they had to go to a Dr. on land at their expense to be checked out. They got an ok from the Dr. and did board. This was on Princess in Alaska.

Since returning from our Sept. 2014 Adriatic cruise on Silhoutte, I must update my answer. We did enjoy the extra space, but found our butler really lacking this time. He did not set up the table with cloth etc. We had to ask every day, sometimes twice to get wine glasses. He did not offer to book restaurants and this time, he would not bring me ice tea in the afternoon. We found traditional dining in the MDR better than Blu (we checked both menus every day). Also, the specialties (Murano and Tuscan) were not as good as last time. We have decided not to spend the extra for a suite on our next Celebrity cruise as it is in March, before the new dining room is added.

We did not find better food in Blu on our recent Silhoutte cruise. We had wonderful service with traditional dining in the MDR. Even on our first suite cruise two years ago, I did not like the food in Blu as much but DH liked the extra service over Select dining. This last time, we got good food and service with the same wait staff every night in the MDR.

We were quite a ways down the hall on the Crown or Emerald Baltic cruise which was in July. There were a bunch of teens-20's that would congregate in front of the elevators and make a lot of noise. They pretended like they could not understand English when I asked them to please move on. The parents had put themselves in the suites on the aft and the "kids" who also included younger kids were in the cabins by us and left alone all evening and night. The only night it was quiet was the one where they all missed the boat at a port!!

Our Adriatic cruise on Silhoutte had at least 2 nights with 1/2 off specialties not counting the first night. They were making the reservations outside the buffet at lunch time. It was a port intensive cruise which might have meant people were not booking the specialties. I was happy we had not paid full price the first few nights as the deals were after a few days.

We were in an S1 (sky suite) on Silhoutte from 9-23 to 10-4 this year and our butler was also "untrained". He put the tray down on the table and left. At least once each day, we had to ask for wine glasses. When he came around with the afternoon treats, I asked for ice tea and he brought it once.

Our last cruise an S1 on Equinox, the butler brought a ice tea every day and also scrimp cocktail and non-sugar treats.

We did not complain because DH does not like to, but one day a supervisor came to the door and asked if the butler was doing a good job, so I think others complained. DH told the supervisor he was "ok", but a think the supervisor could tell that we were not thrilled.The next day, a different butler brought our food and set up the table properly. Our butler did for a couple to times and then stopped.

We were still having to call once or twice a day to get wine glasses. Our steward was great.

We were really surprised when our butler showed up as we were leaving the cabin on the last day to wish us well (I assume to get a tip!). We did not tip him. Unlike NCL, he was auto tipped each day by each of us. We added extra tips for our waiter and assistant waiter and steward. All in all, butler service needs to be uniform on Celebrity for us to book a suite again.

Thanks for the information. It is very interesting that passengers could board in several different ports. We have been to some ports already, but would like to do the ones you did and then take the transatlantic. I will look into it.

We took a ship's tour to Berlin that had a chartered train. It was on Princess, but it sounds from the thread above that Celebrity might offer it. DH just said yesterday how much he loved the train ride! It was very pleasant and we saw a lot of Germany. The tour in Berlin was also good. It was a long day, but we thought it was worth it. We had no worries about getting back.

Thanks for the nice review. We were on the same cruise. You were lucky in your guide for Koper. We were with the same tour company, but our guide did not have the correct insurance papers and we left over an hour late. We did not go out to the island and there was no visit to a B and B. At least we were warm and dry, unlike 4 in our group.

We also had great food and service in the MDR and loved the new (to us) ports of Kotor and Split. Just one note I would add for others on this itinerary: We visited the Lacaris War Rooms in Valletta and the war museum in Catania. Both were great for WWII history.I have written more details in the Italy port section and other Med ports section.

Thanks for your reply re:motion sickness. I have another question: From the cruise atlas, it looks like the Royal started in Copenhagen, but you seem to have started in Tallin...How did that happen? Thanks

Thanks for a great review! We have been to most of the ports, but would like to do the transatlantic part. I have one question: how rough were the seas? I take pills for motion sickness for the first day or two, but all of our cruises but one have been Med or Adriatic or around Hawaii. Our one cruise that we into the Atlantic just a little (Canada and New England), I was quite sick one day. Did you hear of anyone having a problem? Thanks.

We had a lot of OBC for our last trip that started in Venice, so we used OBC to take Celebrity transfer to Rome. We booked after embarkation in order to use OBC. It went very well. Both private excursions we were with on this cruise, people were not where we were supposed to meet at the right time and I would be really nervous with dealing with that when we had a 12:45 flight. We both feel better in Rome and Southhampton with the ship's transfer. Other port such as Venice, Barcelona, Copenhagen and FLL we have no problem with a cab.

Thank-you for the detailed review and the warning about checking the shower area before paying for a week-long pass. As far as having to tip the maitrie 'd to get a good table, I started a thread about that on the Island Panama Canal cruise in Feb. of 13. Most everyone who wrote did not like having to do that because no one would answer the phone.

By comparison, we just returned from Celebrity Silhoutte and the maître 'd very kindly changed our early seating table from the middle of the dining room to a wonderful window table with no tip! Our wait staff was wonderful and most nights had us finished with dessert by 7:15 so we could catch most of the first show.

We just returned from 11 days in an S1 on Silhoutte. The bottled water was not free. We did not miss it. Also, we checked the menu in Blu each night since we had eaten in Blu every night on our previous cruise in an S1. This time we choose the MDR every time except for our two complimentary specialty meals after comparing the menu. We had great food and service in traditional dining and only ate in Blu once for breakfast. Enjoy your extra space and suite perks.

The private excursion operator for Koper sent 3 vans for 8 passengers each. The first 2 left with no problem, but our driver had to spend over an hour on the phone to get permission for us to leave the parking lot. The company has round in the name.

We just got home from a great cruise. The weather was perfect except for one day of rain in Koper. Some crew said rain is common there as it is in the mts.Two couples on our private tour did not have jackets, they suffered. One other note on Koper. Our private tour guide did not have the correct insurance papers and we waited for over an hour to start the tour.

Just a few changes to mention since our Equinox Istanbul cruise in 2012. We had an S1 again because we love the space and wrap around balcony. We loved it again, but this time, we had traditional dining and we loved that. Last time we ate dinner in Blu almost every night, but this time, we checked the menu every day and it did not seem to be as good. Thus we ate in MDR and were happy. Also, our complimentary dinners in Tuscan and Murano were not as good as last time (food). Service was still fine. They had a couple of 50% off at the specialities .

We really enjoyed the new ports of Koper, Kotor and Split. The scenery was beautiful and they were not as crowded as the Amalfi Coast, Malta and Dubrovnik. We took the new ride to the top in Dubrovnik and thought it was fun.

Embarkation was made easier by a shuttle from the People Mover to the ship in Venice. We also used the ship's shuttle back and forth to St. Mark's Square.

Disembarkation went fast and was well organized. We were at the airport in Rome by 9:30.

The entertainment was only fair. We miss a good string quartet. There was no lounge hogging by the pools, but the water was chilly.

Our steward was great. Our only real disappointment was our butler. He did not set up the table with cloth etc for breakfast which we thought was a change in policy until we had another butler one morning and he did it. Also, we had to ask every day at least once for wine glasses.Last cruise, our butler brought ice tea every afternoon after I requested it the first day. I asked this butler to bring it every day and he only brought it once. All in all, we will probably not book a suite again since we did not see much extra except space.

We just returned from our Med cruise on Celebrity Silhoutte and wanted to give more information on the WWII museum in Catania. It was very extensive and had enough English information for us. It starts with a rather scary experience of being in a bombing raid in a dark house with loud sound effects. We thought it was a good way to begin, but a child would be scared, so it could be skipped with a child.

The rest of the museum was easy to walk through at your own pace. To get there from the port: If you can look from high on the back of the ship, you can see the yellow main train station to your right along the water. Walk past that and the WWII museum is near the cimema museums which are quite large. The WWII museum has a yellow small tank in front. It is only 2 E for seniors to get in.

We walked there in about 20 miniutes. There is a sidewalk that goes thru a nice park and then you have to walk next to a very busy street, but you will be safe if you watch the traffic. We were fine with it in the day time.

We had read of the problem of getting from the People Mover to the ship and were pleased to see Celebrity had a shuttle bus to the Silhoutte on Sept. 23rd. The Princess passengers were having to walk, but Princess did have someone there giving directions.Way to go Celebrity!

We just got back from our Med. cruise. For the second time, we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott close to the airport. The hotel will come and get you. After you check in, you can take the bus right in front of the hotel for a small fee right into Plaza Roma. It runs at night also for the ride back. To get to the cruise, we took the hotel shuttle back to the airport and then the bus to Plaza Roma that puts the luggage under the bus.

This was much less expensive than the Best Western Olimpia and is modern with a great bed and bathroom. There is coffee maker, but breakfast is extra.

DH liked the Olimpia, but I did not enjoy the lack of modern elevator and lack of a good bed and bathroom.

We just returned from a great Med cruise on Silhoutte. We had a wonderful tour at the Lacaris War Museum on in Valletta. Be sure to take the guided tour. The guide's father was one of the men who dug the rooms. It was a wonderful tour. The museum is near the famous gardens in the center of town. There are several signs along the walk down to it. We also found the WWII museum at St. Elmo in Valletta, but it closed Sept. 22 for renovation. I will also mention the WWII in Catania under the Italy port section.