Best of Italy & Croatia on Celebrity Constellation - your experience?

[Sun Lover]

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.

[wrk2cruise]

That itinerary only has 1 tender port Kotor, depending on how many ships are there it can be a pretty long tender ride but once you are at the tender dock you are right in town.  We did something similar on Constellation in 2023 and if they were docked away from town they provided a shuttle to town.

 

We are booked on this itinerary in May.  Constellation is one of the oldest ships in the Celebrity fleet and has not been totally refurbished.  The public spaces have been updated but the cabins are pretty dated.  That said we have been  on Constellation many times and have no issues returning.

Edited May 14 by wrk2cruise

[Sun Lover]

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

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, Sun Lover said:

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

 

2025

[sushraya]

Not exactly the same cruise, but this is a very good review of a similar itinerary that concluded last week -

 

 

[sofietucker]

We're doing this itinerary in the fall, only tendering once in Montenegro. Have been to most of the ports several times & looking forward to it again! A few of the ports you need to take their shuttle into town from the pier: Dubrovnik, Zadar, Brindisi. That live review posted above noted that the Zadar shuttle isn't free--but this to my mind is an outrage as you apparently can't leave the pier on your own... But Get Your Guide often offers cheap shuttles in the ports. Bruges, Bilbao are a couple we've done.

[wrk2cruise]

When we visited Zadar last May on Constellation the hotel director Paul was credited with providing free shuttle in all the ports where required.  When I read it was $15 return on this one I thought that was greedy.

[Sun Lover]

 sofietucker, how do you find out which ports have a tender?  Since you've been to many of these ports, I'd love to hear your opinion of them and any suggestions on what to see in each one.  Do you know if any of these ports are a long way from the city center and how far of a drive it is to get there?  If you have recommendations for excursions, please let me know.  Thank you!

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, Sun Lover said:

 sofietucker, how do you find out which ports have a tender?  Since you've been to many of these ports, I'd love to hear your opinion of them and any suggestions on what to see in each one.  Do you know if any of these ports are a long way from the city center and how far of a drive it is to get there?  If you have recommendations for excursions, please let me know.  Thank you!

 

Not sofietucker, but If you look at the cruise itinerary you are interested in on the Celebrity website it shows which ports are docked and which ports are tendered. These are screenshots from the website of the cruise that I will be doing next month. 

 

 

 

Livorno is close to the dock and there is a shuttle to the town as there is no pedestrian access. The shuttle was free in 2022. Many passengers do a tour further afield to places such as Florence (a long way from the port), Pisa and Lucca.

 

Portofino you tender to the town.

 

Naples you dock right in the city but many go on tours to Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast or Capri.

 

Messina you dock right in Messina but many go on tours to Taormina or Mt Etna.

 

Brindisi you can either dock in the city or further away but there is a free shuttle to the city. A recent cruiser on Constellation reported that they docked at the further location and got the shuttle.

 

Kotor you tender to the city and the dock is directly across the road from the old town. Kotor has the most beautiful sail in and out through the Bay of Kotor.

 

If you go to Dubrovnik you dock away from the city centre. There is a shuttle that cost USD15 return in 2022 but I have seen reports that it is free this year. 

 

Split you dock a little way from the city but it is within walking distance. 

 

Zadar you dock outside of the city centre and there is a shuttle that costs USD15 return or USD8 one way.

 

The whatsinport website is a good source for information on the ports for each location and things to see and do, so that further research can be done. 

 

I will be doing a review after my cruise so can provide more information then.

 

Edited May 15 by PurpleTraveller