We chose Celebrity Cruises as we are now elite Captain's Club members and enjoy the benefits and privileges that go with brand loyalty. The main destination for us was Istanbul, the one port that we hadn't been to before. We had also sailed on Celebrity Equinox before in the Caribbean and it suited us. Most of our credits had been accrued on Royal Caribbean ships, (the same company) but Celebrity seems to have that little extra although our previous cruise had been on the Brilliance of the Seas down to Mumbai from Dubai.

This cruise we opted for the Celebrity arrangements for travel from the UK flying from Leeds/Bradford on Jet2 and then coached to and from the ship by coach commissioned by Celebrity. Rome's Fuimicino Airport is organised chaos but Celebrity's agents were very much in evidence, welcoming not only our flight but also several from the USA and Canada. Escorted to the coach and had to our hand baggage in the luggage bay of the coach, which I wasn't too keen about.

Registration and embarkation were a dream having checked in online beforehand and on arriving at our stateroom were immediately welcomed by the cabin steward Mayan. We had chosen select dining so as to choose our own time of dining and were more than pleased with the way it went. The head waiters in select dining are wer very efficient and friendly. The menu was always varied but there was a concentration steaks, in fact after 11 days I could have galloped home! I did miss a few varied fish dishes but you can't possibly moan about getting every kind of steak served to satisfy your palate. Read more