My adult daughter and I booked almost 2 years before the sailing date because of the itinerary. It is not easy to find a ship that makes these ports of call in one sailing. I like Celebrity.
It was easy to get around the ship as well as embarking and disembarking. Everything went so smoothly and quickly. We choose an inside cabin on a lower deck because we like walking the stairs for exercise, and I have found the lower decks more stable if seas are rough. We never had to worry about the elevators, there were 4 midship and others aft and forward. The gym looks pretty good, we didn't use it but looked good.
We chose to eat in the buffet for all meals except for one night in the main dining room. Looking back, that would have been a nice choice for a couple of other nights. We like the buffet because we can choose, find a table (there were lots and never busy), eat and go on our own schedule. The one thing I was not a fan of was the way the buffet is set up, in a large oval (I am sure it is very beneficial for the hardworking crew) meaning we had to walk all the way around to different stations to see what was for meals and then the food was not always still warm by the time we got to our table. I enjoyed the Grill station at the back where the chef cooked the meat or fish I was able to choose, good selection also. There were staples during all meal periods and each day there were stations that changed (Chef's speciality areas). We met 2 friendly crew members in the Ocean View Cafe, Corinna at the ice cream station and Natalia from the Ukraine who cleaned tables. Some crew members, senior crew members in the area and officers who ate here, did not appear approachable or even seemed like they enjoyed their job, didn't see any smiles. The crew at guest relations were great and very helpful.
Anthony was our stateroom attendant who kept things sparking clean. We had the beds apart and found lots of room to move around, not that we spent much time in our cabin. There was plenty of room for our belongings in drawers and cupboards. There is an in-room safe, an umbrella and bathrobes along with plenty of toiletries during our cruise. There was a pull out sofa that we did not use. We did put some snacks in the bar fridge. Great place to shower, sleep and prepare for the day!
We flew into Rome with flights arranged by Celebrity and then transferred to Civitavecchia for the cruise. We had time to go geocaching in both Rome and Civitavecchia prior to beginning the cruise.
We walked around on our own as we had already decided where and what we were going to do. It is easy to get off the ship and walk around. We do not like large group tours.
Loved visiting this port of call. We walked up the hill from the ship and toured the city, while geocaching. We went to a great spot behind the fort, found a swing and walked by the sea then headed back up the hill again. We saw a man pushing a musical cart; that was fascinating to watch. We put in a good day walking the streets and mingling with citizens. We had great gelato!
We had so much fun geocaching here and walking out to the pier where locals have their boats, then spent the rest of our time in the old city. Going into the Grand Masters Palace is a must. The museum is okay but it is so interesting people watching locals and tourists. This port is so easy to walk around.
We stayed in Athens overnight and did our own tour of the Acropolis and the Archaelogical site of the temple of Olympus. Both were free on the day we disembarked which was a bonus. We arranged our accommodations through Expedia. We went to a local restaurant, outside of the tourist area for a delicious dinner. We love being able to see the local residents in their country. We arranged our transportation from the cruise port to the apartment and from the apartment to the airport through the place we stayed rather than through Celebrity.