Sun Lover

I’d love to read a review after your May cruise.  Do you mean May of 2024 or 2025?

I am looking into possibly booking this cruise to the Mediterranean but have never done a European cruise or a cruise with Celebrity.  We have only done Royal Caribbean cruises to the Caribbean on the huge ships. 

I know the small river cruise ships can get into small places and I think many of them you can walk right off the ship into a port.  Does anyone know if the Constellation has to used tenders at most ports?  Would they have to dock so far out that we'd waste a lot of time trying to get to places by car once we get off the ship?  I priced some cruises with small sailing ships as well as river cruise ships and the price difference is unbelievable.  One of them has 2 nights less than the Constellation and it's triple the price of Celebrity. However, it does include several excursions in the price.

If anyone has done this particular itinerary or has experience with this ship in Europe, I'd appreciate your feedback and/or advice.  Thanks.

Thanks so much for replying - it definitely helps. I like the fact that this itinerary includes the 3 day land tour. I realize this would be very different as far as shows and activities. I would need to find out the hours the ship is in each port and how much time is actually on the ship. We like to keep busy so the lack of entertainment is a concern, but I really like this particular itinerary. 

If you have been on both types of ships, do you have a preference between the sailing ships and the motorized ones?  If you have any other advice, please let me know. Thanks again.

We have cruised several times to the Caribbean on Royal Caribbean large ships and have enjoyed them very much.  We recently received a brochure from Windstar in the mail and they have an itinerary that looks very good to me - Lake Como & Adriatic Romance cruise aboard the Wind Surf for 11 days.  I realize this would be a huge difference from the large ships we're used to so I have some questions:

1.  Do the sailing ships like Wind Surf use tenders at all ports?

2.  What is the difference between the sailing ships and the motorized ones?

3.  Is it likely you'll get seasick on the sailing ships?

4.  How does Windstar compare to other cruise lines and are there any others you would recommend for this type of trip?

Any advice and/or suggestions you could give me would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

I’m going on Wonder tomorrow and just purchased 8 bottles of water to put in my carryon.  I didn’t realize until a few minutes ago that the bottles are supposed to be under 17 ounces.  I bought 20 ounce bottles.  Will they not allow me to bring them on board?

Thanks so much for the suggestions.  I ended up booking Cortrans.  They had a lot of positive reviews.

What's the latest they will let you stay on the ship on disembarkation day?  I want to book a shuttle for transport to MCO and I have to pick a time that morning.  We aren't in a hurry as our flight doesn't leave until 4 p.m.  Would we be able to stay on the ship until 9 a.m.?

We will be on Wonder of the Seas next week and will be disembarking on Sunday, November 19.  We need transportation to MCO after we leave the ship.  I've checked into Port Canaveral Connection shared shuttle service, which got terrible reviews, and a couple other ones and none of them seem to be very reliable.  I finally decided to use Go Port shared shuttle but now I just read bad reviews about them too.  There are six of us.  I don't know if we should try to use a ride service, such as Uber, or a private car service maybe or a shared shuttle.  One of the people in our group has breathing difficulties and can't walk very far so I don't want something where we have to go quite a distance with luggage to meet them. 

We leave in a few days so I need to get something in place now.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

I know they rent chairs, but do they also rent tubes or floats at Magens Bay? If so, does anyone know the cost?  I can't find any recent information about it.  I also read they will bring you drinks while you're in the water but I'd like to know if they still do that now.  Thanks for any info.

I know they rent chairs, but do they also rent tubes or floats at Magens Bay? If so, does anyone know the cost?  I can't find any recent information about it.  I also read they will bring you drinks while you're in the water but I'd like to know if they still do that now.  Thanks for any info.

Thank you.  The bigger planes arrive in the afternoon so that's why we wanted to be there until around 3 if possible. 

We want to go to Maho Beach hopefully to see some bigger planes and plan to be there from 1 - 3 p.m.  If we leave Maho at 3, would that be enough time to make it if we have to be back to the ship by 5:30?  I read somewhere that traffic can be really bad in the afternoon and I also read something about a draw bridge in the afternoon and to make sure you don't get caught there.

We have an upcoming cruise on Wonder of the Seas in a few weeks.  I need to know how far it is to walk from the ship to the taxi stand at the port.  We have someone in our group with health issues and he can't walk too far.  Does Royal Caribbean provide assistance to people, such as a wheelchair or tram at this port?  If it's a short distance, maybe a quarter mile, he could probably do that but it will also depend on the heat that day.  Thanks.

Thanks so much for the information.  I just went on the app and now I see where it's listed.  Appreciate you getting back to me!

Actually, that's what I meant, the Dress Your Best nights.  I forgot they changed the name.  So are they always on nights two and six on a seven night cruise?

We will be on the November 12 sailing on Wonder of the Seas and I would like to know if there's a way to find out when the formal nights are?

Ok, thanks.

We recently reached Diamond status and will be on a cruise coming up in a few weeks.  I know we will get 4 drink vouchers per day which I assume are tied to our Seapass cards but if we order a bottled water or soda, is there a way not to use a voucher for that so that we can save it for an alcohol drink?

Thanks, everyone, for your recommendations.  

For anyone who has dined at these specialty restaurants, which do you think is the better choice overall?

Can you request a paper copy of the cruise compass from your stateroom attendant?

Thank you.

Thanks for replying.  I looked it up and there are 4 ships in port that day, including ours.  Two of the ships are much smaller than ours and they depart at 4:00 and 5:00.  I'm hoping a majority of those people will leave by 2:30 or 3:00 so I think we'll plan on getting there then.  I just hope we'll be able to get chairs and umbrellas. 

We will be on a cruise in a few weeks and want to visit Magen's Bay and Mountain Top while we're in St. Thomas.  Unfortunately, our ship doesn't dock in St. Thomas that day until 12:30.  We had originally planned to go to Magen's Bay in the morning to avoid the crowds but when we realized we won't dock until 12:30, we don't know if we should go as soon as we get off the ship or wait until later in the afternoon, maybe around 3 p.m.  Do you think it will be so crowded it won't even be enjoyable?  Will it be hard to get chairs and/or umbrellas?

Are there plenty of taxis at Maho Beach to go back toPhilipsburg where you can grab one and not have it reserved ahead of time?