Men of Armour Posted November 5, 2017 #1 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Specifically what you thought of the eastern Adriatic ports of call. I have to assume any Celebrity-centric excursions are rushed, covering too much in too little time - am I wrong? What season did you sail? Looking here at Aug or Sep 2018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggertastic Posted November 5, 2017 #2 Share Posted November 5, 2017 We've done it on both July, September and October. You can book lots of tours privately for less and recommend taking a look at the port boards and trip advisor for ideas. Dubrovnik taxi into town is €13 and Rick steves books are really useful. We did a private tour to Bosnia which was fantastic. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Miaminice Posted November 5, 2017 #3 Share Posted November 5, 2017 You can find loads of infos and tons of pics in this review of our fabulous Adriatic cruise on Constellation here: http://travellove.one/Our-Trips/Adriatic-Constellation-1---Ven/adriatic-constellation-1---venice.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Essiesmom Posted November 5, 2017 #4 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Kotor is likely to be a tender port. The old walled city is right where the tenders dock and is charming and walkable. Get the Lonely Planet chapter on Kotor as your guide. Don't miss the sailin/out along the fjord. As lovely as Norway but not as cold...Split is walkable also, if you are interested in the old town and ruins of Diocletian's Palace. You no longer have to tender there, which may or may not be a good thing. the tenders used to let you off right at the Old Town, but the dock is about a km from the town. Don't know if there is a shuttle from the dock, as we tendered both times we were there. In Catania take the shuttle to Taormina (Taormina on your own). EM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelicanLvr Posted November 5, 2017 #5 Share Posted November 5, 2017 August is very hot.... August is also very crowded with tourists.... August is when many Europeans take their vacations and many shops and restaurants are closed. Was in Paris this August for DW's big birthday and many restaurants and shops were closed. Suggest September----even mid-later September = cooler, less crowded and everything is open! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelicanLvr Posted November 5, 2017 #6 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Forgot to add: We did the Adriatic/Malta Connie itinerary in Sept 2016. Yes, you have the right idea about X excursions. Crowded and slow. Better to Do it on your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobbie48 Posted November 5, 2017 #7 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Early September was especially crowded in Dubrovnik. Don’t take a vehicle tour in Kotor, traffic is terrible. Easy to walk to old town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Men of Armour Posted November 5, 2017 Author #8 Share Posted November 5, 2017 A heart-felt THANK YOU to all of you "first responders"... since the August trip is so close to fully booked I will take your collective advice and try for September... also, for you who are Americans... what kinds of airfares did you find? My assumed flight itinerary is Portland>Amsterdam>Barcelona. Delta has this amazing non-stop on that first leg on an A330. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobbie48 Posted November 5, 2017 #9 Share Posted November 5, 2017 A heart-felt THANK YOU to all of you "first responders"... since the August trip is so close to fully booked I will take your collective advice and try for September... also, for you who are Americans... what kinds of airfares did you find? My assumed flight itinerary is Portland>Amsterdam>Barcelona. Delta has this amazing non-stop on that first leg on an A330. I paid $1100 Denver-venice, Barcelona-Denver. Booked in Feb for September. Check on upcoming Black Friday. I’ve gotten great bargains then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Click Posted November 5, 2017 #10 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Just to throw this idea out before you book it....Consider going from Venice up to Barcelona. The sail away from Venice is something spectacular. We did it last September and even though the weather was not perfect it was still an amazing sight. If you are committed to the BCN to VCE route then make sure to be up early to watch the sail in and hope you have some daylight to enjoy it. As other have said, forget Celebrity's tours and book your own private tours. Join your roll call and you can find others to join you to make a small group. We did groups of 6 when we did tours and it was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villauk Posted November 5, 2017 #11 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Kotor is likely to be a tender port. The old walled city is right where the tenders dock and is charming and walkable. Get the Lonely Planet chapter on Kotor as your guide. Don't miss the sailin/out along the fjord. As lovely as Norway but not as cold...Split is walkable also, if you are interested in the old town and ruins of Diocletian's Palace. You no longer have to tender there, which may or may not be a good thing. the tenders used to let you off right at the Old Town, but the dock is about a km from the town. Don't know if there is a shuttle from the dock, as we tendered both times we were there. In Catania take the shuttle to Taormina (Taormina on your own). EM Some good points here ;). Don’t go in August if you don’t have to, OP. Crowds, crowds and more crowds :eek:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisin lady ca Posted November 6, 2017 #12 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Following. I booked the September 2019 Venice - Barcelona itinerary on Constellation since we had to cancel our 2018 booking. After reading the posts about the sail away in Venice, I decided that was the way to go. Very excited since both Venice and Barcelona are bucket list cities for me. Enjoy your cruise in 2018 - please let us know what you decided to do re: excursions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Miaminice Posted November 6, 2017 #13 Share Posted November 6, 2017 After reading the posts about the sail away in Venice' date=' I decided that was the way to go. Very excited since both Venice and Barcelona are bucket list cities for me.[/quote'] Sail away from Venice is unforgettable: -lLQjw6_0sQ More about our cruise and also contacts of recommendable tour operators here: http://travellove.one/Our-Trips/Adriatic-Constellation-1---Ven/adriatic-constellation-1---venice.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisin lady ca Posted November 6, 2017 #14 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Sail away from Venice is unforgettable: -lLQjw6_0sQ More about our cruise and also contacts of recommendable tour operators here: http://travellove.one/Our-Trips/Adriatic-Constellation-1---Ven/adriatic-constellation-1---venice.html Thank you for sharing! I will spend some time reading your review/journal. I have looked at some of your other posts and they are wonderful reads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelicanLvr Posted November 6, 2017 #15 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Sailaway from Venice: The main sites of Venice will be on the left side(I should say port side) of the ship as it sails out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beanb41 Posted November 7, 2017 #16 Share Posted November 7, 2017 We did the Barcelona to Venice cruise earlier in the Year. Itinerary was Barcelona, Monaco, Nice, Genoa, Livorno, Civitivecchia, Kotor Zadar , Venice. We got off to a slow start as the cruise started two days late because of engineering problems but the compensation and the fact that the cruise line flew us up and back for the Monaco Grand Prix made for in our opinion a great start. Genoa we felt was just a real old city and did the HOHO bus. Livorno we freedom travelled to Florence by train visited Uffuzi/ Accademia (Michaelangelo statue) and trained back to Pisa for Leaning tower and train back to Livorno. Very busy day be what a day. We were able to purchase train tickets and prebook all entries and pay for them on line before leaving home. Civitivecchia we stayed on board as we had been Rome the previous year. Suggestion if a freedom traveller get a BIRG rail ticket from Civitivecchia train station cost 12 Euros cover cost of train to and from Rome and have full use of metro. Kotor we visited the blue grotto and had a walk around the walled city. Zadar was a walking tour by Sime who really knows his onions. Our tours were limited to around 10 as cruise line tours of 50 are too big and impersonal. Venice we overnighted and we did the Doges palace (booked and paid on line) and used the HOHO ferry to have a look around the city. Whilst we only did an entry into Venice early in the morning it was still a magnificent experience. When going into Kotor get onto the helipad if you can. It would have to be one of the most scenic entries into a port on the planet outside the icy fiords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM Cruiser Posted November 7, 2017 #17 Share Posted November 7, 2017 Consider flights from USA to Europe via Toronto, You have a great exchange rate, we have a fabulous airport and lots of direct flights into Europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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