Help with May 2025 Celebrity Ascent cruise in the Adriatic

[SanDiegoGuy1]

I'm wondering if it us the first time/cruise that the Celebrity Ascent will be travelling to the ports on its May 2025 10 day cruise.

The ports in question are: 

Olympia and  Corfu Greece, Split and Dubrovnik Croatia, Bar Montenegro. I believe it has already been to Naples and Messina Sicily.

I am currently booked on this cruise and wonder about who I might ask about potential Celebrity offered shore excursions of recommendation in these ports? If it is Ascent's first time there, would the previous Beyond cruisers be able to help with what they feel were solid shore excursions in Croatia, Montenegro instead? Or who can help?

(I know that many take outside companies or take private tours/go on their own in many instances, my wife feels most safe with being on a Celebrity excursion (no ammnt of convincing will change this mindset). We have on occasion, done our own thing but this is predominantly the case))

 

Keeping this in mind, can I please get some help with what people might recommend. 

I have heard that Kotor offers more than Bar as a port, so we hope to get on the Kotor Celebrity excursion. 

Any ideas, feedback, suggestions is much appreciated. 

Thanks 

Cameron 

[edinburgher]

16 hours ago, SanDiegoGuy1 said:

m wondering if it us the first time/cruise that the Celebrity Ascent will be travelling to the ports on its May 2025 10 day cruise.

The ports in question are: 

Olympia and  Corfu Greece, Split and Dubrovnik Croatia, Bar Montenegro. I believe it has already been to Naples and Messina Sicily.

Probably the easiest way to find out is to look at the Ascent itineraries on the Celebrity website  which will sail before before your date as some of these ports might be scheduled ahead of yours.

 

But looking at your ports, it isn't always necessary to take any tour at all  wheher it be shorex or private as a few are very very easy to DIY with a little pre-trip homework and should reassure your wife at the same time as saving $$$$s.

 

As an example, in Kotor you will either tender into or dock in the town centre. You only need cross the road and you are already inside this historic small town with its very narrow pretty streets. This is a super  scenic sail-in so be up on deck approx. an hour before scheduled arrival time.

 

Split you will dock a 10 to 15 minute walk from the centre (which you can see from your ship)  You only need walk the flat surface past the bus station and the ferry piers and you are there.

 

Dubrovnik.  If docking at Gruz, you would probably want to take a ship shuttle, a public bus from the port gate or a taxi to Pile Gate, the last point for all vehicles as the walled town is pedestrian only.. Pile Gate is one of the entrances to the walled city so you are already there.

 

What would be helpful to you would be to look at previous threads for all your ports as they are full of helpful information and tips.  Use the quick and easy SEARCH tool to find them in seconds.  These to start you off.  Choose which to read from these.

 

Split

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=split&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

 

Dubrovnik

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=dubrovnik&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

 

 

Kotor

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=kotor&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by edinburgher

[tusconcam]

Thank you very much for sound advice. We unfortunately dock in Bar, but there is an excursion to Kotor that we hope is still available.

We had hoped that Split Old Town and Corfu Old town would be feasible in some form or other. Do you or others know about Tragir near Split? and Cavtat as adjunct to the old towns? Hope to hear more thanks to you and all.

[edinburgher]

8 hours ago, tusconcam said:

We had hoped that Split Old Town and Corfu Old town would be feasible in some form or other. Do you or others know about Tragir near Split? and Cavtat as adjunct to the old towns?

Split and links to past threads already given in post #2  As the central area of Split is mostly pedestrian only, best way to explore is on foot.

 

Corfu.  Taxi tours are popular here so do consider one.  Lots of mentions of taxi tours in past Corfu threads.

 

Trogir(note spelling as an incorrect spelling will give you a negative search result)  and Cavtat have also been mentioned a good number of times in past threads where you can read what others wrote. We visited Trogir only once and it was so crowded we didn't linger there long.

 

We love the Cavtat peninsula walk and Cavtat could not be easier to reach from the port of Gruz Dubrovnik. Of our 7 visits to Dubrovnik over 20 or so years,  we  visited Cavtat three times to escape the crowds in Dubrovnik.

 

In addition to your port names, you can also search for past threads for Trogir and Cavtat using the quick and easy search tool, and "Corfu taxi tours" should be in search results too.  Researching and planning your days is part of the overall trip enjoyment,  as you plan your days to suit your own interests rather than  followimg along on the quite rigid content of a shorex,  and you save lots of money too. Win Win😀

Edited May 29 by edinburgher

[mrgabriel]

We're on Celebrity Constellation this September/October and are going to a number of these ports. Whatever excursions are offered on our cruise will likely be offered on yours. 

 

If there's an excursion that you like, book it. You can always cancel later and get a full refund. 

[edinburgher]

On 5/29/2024 at 2:25 PM, tusconcam said:

Do you or others know about Tragir near Split? and Cavtat as adjunct to the old towns

Did you find and read any of the past threads using the search tool as previously suggesed you do?/

 

If not,

 

Cavtat

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=cavtat&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

Trogir.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=trogir&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

Edited August 2 by edinburgher

[mskaufman]

Here is a video from our Adriatic trip last month. Might help.

 

 

 

[PurpleTraveller]

I went on a Celebrity excursion to Trogir from Split in July. We went to Salona a ruined Roman town first and then spent about an hour and a half in Trogir. It is a lovely small town with a pretty waterside promenade, a cathedral, old buildings, cute laneways with plenty of shops, cafes and restaurants. It was not busy and the laneways in the middle of the town were almost deserted. We really enjoyed our visit to Trogir. On our return to Split we still had time to visit the Diocletian Palace.