Italy Cruisetours?

[rburns44]

We are interested in doing a Celebrity Cruisetour of Italy in Sept. 2014. After talking to Celebrity we found they can/won't? tell us the name of the hotels they use. They did give us the names of 2 hotels they have used in the past. After reseaching them, we found one has closed and the other is not rated well.

 

Has anyone gone lately on a cruisetour to Italy and how were the hotels Celebrity uses? Thanks so much for any info!

 

rburns44

[WestLakeGirl]

Which cruise tour? It would help to know which one you're interested in

[ariawoman]

Both X and RCCL are getting rid of several cruisetours, which might be why they wouldn't give any information. :(

 

Here's what they sent in email recently to agents:

 

Due to the limited demand for Cruisetour products in the Europe and Exotics regions, in cooperation with the brands we have made the decision to limit and in some cases cancel these tour offerings between April of 2014 and April of 2015.

 

As for the future of Cruisetours our main focus will continue to be centered on our Alaska & Canadian Rockies products, and all of our Alaska and Canadian Rockies Cruisetours will remain available for sale.

[rburns44]

WestLakeGirl-We are booked on Celebrity Cruise tour 4EB. Venice, Italy. 5 days pre-cruise land and then 11 day cruise on the Silhouette around the islands. We are just worried that the hotels do not seem to get good reviews.

 

ariawoman- That is very interesting to hear. Had no idea that was going on. Would explain a lot!

 

Thank you both!

 

Becky

[canagal]

WestLakeGirl-We are booked on Celebrity Cruise tour 4EB. Venice, Italy. 5 days pre-cruise land and then 11 day cruise on the Silhouette around the islands. We are just worried that the hotels do not seem to get good reviews.

 

ariawoman- That is very interesting to hear. Had no idea that was going on. Would explain a lot!

 

Thank you both!

 

Becky

 

Hi there- we were on Cruisetour 4EB Aug 29- Sept 3. The information you have posted is very interesting. Celebrity was very reluctant to give out any info re hotels and in fact it was only about 30 days prior to leaving that they were made known. The Milano Stuckey in Venice is a lovely hotel, and it sets your standards high - the hotel in Florence was very central and fine, but rooms a little run down, not as polished as The Hilton. It was the Cerretani Firenze. Now Rome: hotel chosen was The Augusta Lucilla Palace, supposed to be of high rating- certainly did not come close to Hilton standard. It was also near the train station and not very near to the ancient sites etc. The breakfasts at these hotels were fine, again Hilton the best.

Having said this about the hotels, I would like to emphasise that the Tour Guide/Leader we had was wonderful- Anna Maria! Cannot say enough about how helpful and well informed she was. The individual guides we had in the 3 cities were also excellent and well informed in their fields.

Being in the tour group you are able to bypass the lines for major sites.

Also note that our guide also made optional "extra" arrangements for meals and tours that were not included in the package, so you may wish to budget a little extra for these if you haven't planned out your free time.

The transfers upon arrival, and between cities were well done.

Perhaps if Celebrity were more forthcoming with information they might sell more of this product. I guess my final comment would be that for the money you pay, I would expect more consistancy with the accomodations.

We loved our trip overall so go and have fun- and if you have Anna Maria, say Hi from us!:)

[jamona2311]

Have you considered DIY? My mom and I were going to do the Rome, Florence, Venice cruise tour for our September 2014 Celebrity cruise. I love doing reserch and in my findings and budgeting we will be able to DIY this trip, with hotels, trains, airfare, activities and some meals and come to about the same price as the cruise with cruise tour! :eek: hha. We love our independance when we travel and are very budget savy so this works fine for us. Just a thought :)

[rburns44]

Thank you for all the replays. Canagal,it was very nice to hear your experience. That lack of answers about hotels is what concerns us the most.

jamona2311, we have researched and decided at this stage, we just want someone else to do the planning! In fact I can research until make myself sick of it and just throw up my hands at it all! Thank you all for the info!

 

Becky

[royalcruz]

Maybe Gate1 has something that will work for your schedule. We have been pleased with their tours of Spain and Israel. They use good well-located hotels and are very reasonably priced. We did a tour of Italy with Globus and while the hotels were fine, they were not centrally located except for the one in Venice which was only 1-2 blocks from St. Marco piazza.

[rburns44]

Thank you royalcruz! We have not heard of them but did look them up. We will do some more research with them but they do look like they have something we would be interested in! Thanks to all of you!

 

Becky

[ariawoman]

Thank you for all the replays. Canagal,it was very nice to hear your experience. That lack of answers about hotels is what concerns us the most.

jamona2311, we have researched and decided at this stage, we just want someone else to do the planning! In fact I can research until make myself sick of it and just throw up my hands at it all! Thank you all for the info!

 

Becky

 

You might benefit from finding a travel agent to help you out. Definitely a lot to sort through when planning vacations. I can't even imagine how people did it before the internet...

[midwestchick]

Hi there- we were on Cruisetour 4EB Aug 29- Sept 3. The information you have posted is very interesting. Celebrity was very reluctant to give out any info re hotels and in fact it was only about 30 days prior to leaving that they were made known. The Milano Stuckey in Venice is a lovely hotel, and it sets your standards high - the hotel in Florence was very central and fine, but rooms a little run down, not as polished as The Hilton. It was the Cerretani Firenze. Now Rome: hotel chosen was The Augusta Lucilla Palace, supposed to be of high rating- certainly did not come close to Hilton standard. It was also near the train station and not very near to the ancient sites etc. The breakfasts at these hotels were fine, again Hilton the best.

Having said this about the hotels, I would like to emphasise that the Tour Guide/Leader we had was wonderful- Anna Maria! Cannot say enough about how helpful and well informed she was. The individual guides we had in the 3 cities were also excellent and well informed in their fields.

Being in the tour group you are able to bypass the lines for major sites.

Also note that our guide also made optional "extra" arrangements for meals and tours that were not included in the package, so you may wish to budget a little extra for these if you haven't planned out your free time.

The transfers upon arrival, and between cities were well done.

Perhaps if Celebrity were more forthcoming with information they might sell more of this product. I guess my final comment would be that for the money you pay, I would expect more consistancy with the accomodations.

We loved our trip overall so go and have fun- and if you have Anna Maria, say Hi from us!:)

 

 

I was on this same cruise tour and have to agree with canagal about everything. Actually, the hotel in Florence I thought was not very clean...capeting and furniture soiled and looked like it had not been cleaned in some time.

Also, I heard that Celebrity will no longer be offering the cruise tours in Italy.

I still think the tours are a good value when you consider all that's included, plus you will get where you need to be and on time. It saves a lot of hassle and time in planning and researching.

[rburns44]

Thank you midwestchick! you have confirmed our worries. We will be finding another way.

 

Becky

[rnrcruzin]

We are interested in doing a Celebrity Cruisetour of Italy in Sept. 2014. After talking to Celebrity we found they can/won't? tell us the name of the hotels they use. They did give us the names of 2 hotels they have used in the past. After reseaching them, we found one has closed and the other is not rated well.

 

Has anyone gone lately on a cruisetour to Italy and how were the hotels Celebrity uses? Thanks so much for any info!

 

rburns44

 

I have not read the whole thread so please forgive me if things have been overcome by events and you've booked. Being on the Millennium that was stuck at Ketchikan I've learned something about Celebrity and their cruise tours and It's pretty simple really. Demand an itemized receipt that breaks out the cruise portion and the tour portion so you can see what you're paying for. You may be surprised. Celebrity will tell you that they can't do that, but they can. Also ensure you understand what can be refunded and what can't be refunded. For example, taxes can't be refunded but port charges can if that port call is canceled for some reason. Don't rely on trip insurance to make up any difference. Go to the August 16th Millennium thread and you can see some of the problems folks are encountering.

Regards,

Bob