This was a little different than most cruises we have been on in that there was only 1 sea day for a 12 night cruise. Every morning we were docking in a new city so there really was no time to just kick back and relax. That was OK with us as we chose the itinerary because we wanted to see new places. The cruise began in Venice but we actually flew into Rome early and spent several days in Rome and Florence before arriving in Venice. The result of this was that we were already pretty tired by the time we got on the ship. We stayed two days in Venice before we got on the ship and then the ship stayed one night there acting as our hotel to see more of Venice. We bought a 72 hour vaporetto pass that allowed us to jump off an on the vaporettos as we wished. That gave us incredible flexibility to see Venice at our leisure.

The sail away from Venice was very impressive. You might choose a port side cabin just so you can enjoy the view from your stateroom. The Constellation is starting to show her age a bit but the entire crew was very friendly and anxious to please. Twice we had problems where the toilets would not flush but the problems were fixed relatively quickly. For the most part we took private tours arranged by folks from Cruise Critic that we connected with before the cruise even started. I arranged a tour from Ravenna that went first to San Marino and then visited the mosaics in Ravenna. Our guide was Cinzia from Tours by locals and she did a great job. Then in Dubrovnik I arranged a tour to Bosnia Herzegovina , again with Tours by Locals and this time our guide was Tanja. Again it was a great tour. Basically every day we got up early and left the ship with a small group tour to see the sights of the town. We avoid the ships tours because they are just plain overpriced and I don’t feel like going at the pace of the slowest person in a group of 60.

A few comments about Celebrity. This was our 5th Celebrity cruise. It is my opinion that the cruise line is going down hill based on the way they treat their passengers, trying to wring every last dollar out of them. A year ago we were on a cruise in South America where the port was some distance from the town but they provided a free shuttle bus from the port to town. On this cruise there were 3 ports where they charged $12 per person to take a bus from the ship to town. Two of the trips were only a couple of miles (Dubrovnik and Zadar) while in Ravenna it was probably more like 10 miles. Everyone we talked to was upset about this change in policy. In addition, when we finished the cruise, if you wanted a ride from the port to the train station in Civitavecchia they charged $25 per person for a ride of less than a mile. I realize a cruise company makes money on the extras they charge , but to me it is gauging to charge extra to deliver a person to the town they advertise they are going to. Read more