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Galaxy Western Meditteranean - Just Got Back!

Cruisin'Carrie

By Cruisin'Carrie,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Cruisin'Carrie

Cruisin'Carrie

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Hi everyone!

 

 

Just got back from a 10 night Western Med cruise on Galaxy and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the ship & ports. Here’s a rundown on what we did & our observations.

 

 

ABOUT THE SHIP:

 

We stayed in room 1241, Concierge Class w/ a Balcony. The stateroom was beautiful and the balcony was wonderful. We did use the balcony quite a bit – for room service in the morning, and to enjoy a pre-drink cocktail and the canapés they give CC a few hours before dinner (while watching sunsets no less)! It’s also nice to be able to see the sea in the mornings or late evenings from the privacy of your own room rather than have to get dressed and go up on deck with all the other passengers. Is Concierge Class worth it? Well, it depends – the canapés are nice but you can certainly get better food elsewhere on the ship, but we did very much enjoy the early disembarkation at the ports rather than wait in long lines, and the service was excellent. We felt it was definitely worth the extra we paid. As for the ship itself, you have to look very hard to see any of the imperfections, which are minor. I don’t understand the postings I’ve read here that mention the poor condition of the ship – it looked great to us.

 

 

ROME/CIVITAVECCHIA

 

We stayed in Rome one night prior to sailing. We stayed at Albergo Del Senato, a beautiful hotel overlooking the Pantheon which we HIGHLY recommend. (http://www.albergodelsenato.it/home.html). It was about $250/night for a double room, rather expensive but we were only there one night and felt it was worth the splurge. The hotel has a gorgeous terrace overlooking the Pantheon and we watched a beautiful sunset over St. Peter’s. As for exploring Rome, if you’re in relatively good shape you can walk almost anywhere you want to go. We walked from the Colleseum to St. Peter’s and back with no problem. If visiting the Vatican, keep in mind that the Sistine Chapel closes at 2:30. We went to St. Peter’s around 2 on a Thursday, and there was a line but it wasn’t unbearably long.

 

 

The train is a great way to get to Civitavecchia and you can easily walk to the shuttle bus to the ship … please don’t make our mistake and think you can actually walk to the ship itself! The shuttle parks close to the McDonald’s.

 

 

NAPLES – ship excursion

 

After a few days of travel and a rather hectic schedule in Rome, we decided to relax. We took the ship’s “Island of Ischia and Thermal Springs” tour and we LOVED it! There were very few people on this tour (a dozen or so) which was rather nice – less crowds! The island is gorgeous and much less touristy than Capri. The drive through the island was surprisingly fun, the tour guide was great and it wasn’t too scripted. Then we had 4 hours to spend in 6 Olympic sized swimming pools with varying temperatures of hot spring water overlooking the sea. Very highly recommend this tour.

 

 

MYKONOS – on our own

 

Plan on getting lost on this island! There is a shuttle that takes you to the center of the city and we planned to find the bus headed to Paradise Beach. We found it, but after a lot of wrong turns! Paradise Beach was touristy but beautiful. There’s a ferry from Paradise to Super Paradise that you can take too – supposed to be a nice beach as well. After the beach we headed to Little Venice, adorable little area. We literally ran into the pelican on one of the winding roads. Then we watched the sunset at one of the little bars in Little Venice. Gorgeous.

 

 

SANTORINI – on our own

 

Santorini is simply breathtaking. The donkeys are a hoot and well worth a trip up for a good laugh – plus they seemed to know just when to pause to let you take a picture! They have a great bus system - the buses are centrally located, run regularly to Oia, Akritori and the beaches, are very comfortable, and cost just 1 euro each way. We went to Kamari, the black sand beach. It was beautiful and relaxing, plus not too overcrowded. Just remember to bring water and shoes or sturdy sandles (the black rocks are hot!). We had an amazing fresh fish meal overlooking the sea, though you can also find gyros for just a few euro or other more inexpensive meals. We then headed back to Fira and did some shopping & sightseeing, rode the cable car down and watched the sunset from our balcony on the ship.

 

 

MESSINA – ship excursion

 

We did “Taormina On Your Own” – as did a great majority of our shipmates! It was very nice though. Taormina is a lovely little town with great views, great shopping and amazing little cafes in the streets. The Ancient Theatre is definitely worth a visit. We’d recommend taking this tour rather than booking your own transportation because it’s about an hour ride up, and traffic in Sicily is less than ideal. This was very convenient. Back in Messina, we heard that the clock tower is amazing, so time permitting, you should check it out.

 

 

VILLEFRANCHE – on our own

 

Everything we heard about every excursion was positive. Everyone loved the French Riviera and you can’t go wrong with any of the trips to Nice, Eze or Monte Carlo. The train runs regularly from Villefranche to all of these places so you can easily get to wherever you want to, or take one of the ship’s excursions. We chose to stay in Villefranche – it’s more of a romantic little town with a great pebbly beach. There are plenty of restaurants and cute little shops.

 

 

GENOA – on our own

 

Our plan was to do Portofino on our own … didn’t exactly work out how we wanted. We started too late and thought we wouldn’t have enough time to catch the ferries or train. However, our tablemates took the “Beautiful Portofino” tour and had a great time – they said that Portofino was amazingly beautiful, but to expect shoulder-to-shoulder people as tours just kept flooding in. Santa Margherita itself is also a nice place to visit, and just a short train ride away. As for us, we decided at this point of the trip to give ourselves an extra at-sea day – the decks were mostly empty so we had the pools and hot tubs to ourselves, we had extra time to pack so we could enjoy our dinner and entertainment that evening, and it was a great day to enjoy great discounts on spa packages.

 

 

That’s our two cents worth! Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the ports or the ship itself.

 

 

Have a great trip!

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firstplacechef

firstplacechef

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Hi Carrie, we have that room booked for next June, do you have any pics of the balconly you can send me? I would really appreciate it. Also, did you have any problems with noise from the basketball courts next door and or any problems with the adjoining room with the door? Thanks in advance. Scott

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David C

David C

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Dear Crusin'Carrie: Thank you so much for your report on your recent Galaxy trip. We are booked for the Galaxy's Eastern Mediterranean trip next May and are in the midst of planning, dreaming, etc. One question for you, however. I've seen very conflicting reports on taking the train from Rome to Civitavecchia and getting from the Civitavecchia train station to the ship. We'll be heading from Milan to Civitavecchia (via Rome) by train and, if possible, I ask that you please provide further detail on how you found the shuttle, where it is located in relation to the Civitavecchia train station, what it looks like, who operates the shuttle and how frequently it runs. Also, where is this McDonald's you mention in relation to the Civitavecchia train station?

 

Thanks again for your report and for your help with my question. I'll look into the Rome hotel you recommended for a planned post-cruise stay of a couple of nights in Rome!

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Davey.B

Davey.B

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Thanks for your great review Carrie.We are doing the Galaxy Western Med. in Oct.I would be interested in knowing at what time you were able to board the ship.This information would help us with arranging our shuttle from Rome.The official word from Celebrity is 12 noon.Thanks for your help.:)

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Cruisin'Carrie

Cruisin'Carrie

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Firstplacechef -

I've attached a picture of the balcony. It was tough to take a picture of, but there are two chairs with a table, plus two lounge chairs on the right - we had them moved out of the way in this pic. If you have Fabian as your steward, tell him Tom and Carrie said hi. We thought he was fantastic - very professional but also had a great sense of humor. As for the basketball - to be honest, there were times that it got a little annoying when we were sitting on the balcony, but early morning when we ate breakfast was always quiet and there was only one night when someone was playing past midnight, besides that they normally quit playing around 9 or 10. The balcony itself, we enjoyed very much - it's diagnolly shaped so you get a backward view as well as the side view. No other balconies have that feature.

 

David C -

For the train - I'm assuming you will stop at the main Rome train terminal to switch trains to go to Civitavecchia. The ticket is around 4 euros/person. You can buy the ticket at the "fast ticket" lane for the trains that leave every 15 minutes. You'll get on the train heading to Pisa. It's about an hour ride, and Civitavecchia is like the 7th stop or so.

When you get off in Civitavecchia, you can take a cab if you want or you can walk about 5 blocks toward the harbor. When you get to the McDonald's, which is on the right, you will pass through a tiny little arch - the road narrows and there's a traffic guy there. Cross the street and the bus will be parked right there - that's your shuttle to Galaxy, and will have a sign for Galaxy on the dash.

You can also take this free shuttle back after the cruise is over, then walk to the train station. You can get tickets for the airport for around 8 euro/person. You will travel almost all the way back to the main Rome terminal, but get off at Rome Travesto or something like that, then go to track 6 for a 10 minute ride to the airport (if you're going that way).

 

DaveyB -

We could begin boarding at noon. We actually got there at 2 and the lines were great - we waited only about 5 minutes to get in.

 

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have more questions.

balcony.jpg.19dbb5a2e0be72439f5089885d702b13.jpg

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firstplacechef

firstplacechef

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Thanks Carrie, I have seen the pics of the balcony of 1200 and 1201 which are fullsized, but I like being able to see a little more and it still looks ample vs the 42sqft ones on the decks below!

 

 

Did you have an early or late dinner seating, if late did you find it to be too late?Any info on sound or cigarette smoke coming from the door with the adjoining room? I have heard mixed reviews and I am sure it depends on who is in the next room and how loud or if they smoke! I hear that the smoking on the European cruises can be on the heavy side.

 

Thanks again for the info and will let Fabian know you said hello if he is still on that deck. OBTW, since there are only 4 CC cabins on that deck do you feel you got any special treatment due to all of the suites or was it just great anyway! Scott

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Cruisin'Carrie

Cruisin'Carrie

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We did late dining and we loved it. It gave us tons more time on shore and we didn't feel rushed to get back and get changed, etc. This is especially important in Naples, Santorini and Villefranche. ALSO - if you are eating at 6:15 then you miss EVERY sunset!!! Sunsets are around 6:30/7:00. We fell into the habit of having a "light" snack (like there is such a thing on a cruise ship!) or ordering room service between 4 and 6 every night, which held us over to our huge meal later. Plus, nothing against kids, but there were virtually no small children at the late dining, the room wasn't as jammed full, and we got great service from our waiters.

 

I didn't smell smoke in our room once. There really wasn't much smoking in general on the ship that we observed, just in the bars late at night.

 

Having the 4 CC on the deck probably made sure we had better service, b/c I think Fabian was just in charge of those 4 - don't suites have butlers? Anytime we asked for something we had it within minutes. I wouldn't worry about the suites on the floor.

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Cruisin'Carrie

Cruisin'Carrie

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Hey everyone!

 

The dress was as follows:

1st night - Casual

2nd night (Naples) - Informal

3rd night (At Sea) - Formal

4th night (Mykonos) - Casual

5th night (Santorini) - Casual

6th night (At Sea) - Formal

7th night (Messina) - Informal

8th night (At Sea) - Formal

9th night (Villefranche) - Casual

10th night (Genoa) - Casual

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Cruisin'Carrie

Cruisin'Carrie

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If you don't own a tux, it was very convenient to rent one. You can order ahead of time through Celebrity's service (found on their website) and order an extra shirt for the 3rd night. My boyfriend's tux arrived on the 2nd night (so don't worry if it's not there on that first night!) and all three shirts were the wrong size - and the problem was fixed in about an hour. There's a tailor online in case of issues like that.

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Tatka

Tatka

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Sorry for intrusion,

 

We did Western Med last year with RCI and while we enjoyed Villefranche alot we loved our Monaco/Monte Carlo tour. I would prefer less people in the bus, but even if you aren't planning ship tour - don't miss Monaco. It's a beautiful country-city.

 

some pictures

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/146078076/146089759aZUuZy

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/146181776/146186861mwZzxL

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/146181776/146187041wQdcQv

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  • 11 months later...
prettypetunia

prettypetunia

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carrie! hello, we were on the same cruise! i have been asking everyone on this board who was on it who their ass. maitreD was, because we absolutelly loved ours and can't remember his name :-( we'd like to write a letter to celebrity about him but have no recollection of his name! I know if we hear it we'll remember it, so do you mind telling who yours was?

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WooKeef

WooKeef

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Thanks for all the fantastic info and point of view.

I have a question: I read a previous posting that was a less than steller review saying that there were alot of smokers on the ship and the smoke was not limited to the smoking areas. I am concerned since I have a extreme allergy to cigarette smoke. I wouldn't be able to breathe the entire time!

Also, they said the staff seemed worn...did you have the impression that they seemed tired in any way?

We leave for an 11 night Med in 15 days! I can't wait!

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C 2 C

C 2 C

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Also, they said the staff seemed worn...did you have the impression that they seemed tired in any way?

We leave for an 11 night Med in 15 days! I can't wait!

 

They've been at it for a year......

 

As Lois R just stated...

this review is over a year old..just wanted to make

ya'll aware of it.

This is the time/date of the OP post : September 8th, 2005, 03:48 PM

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