Summer1961

DH enjoys Their pizza and although they usually have slices ready to go, will make one fresh with your preferred toppings, if you are prepared to wait.

I follow a gluten free diet and have them make one for me when I’m ready.  

Thank you for sharing your trip with us.  I truly enjoyed reading you every day and am very much looking forward to our November cruise on Silhouette.  
 

I think everything looks wonderful,  I understand cut backs and they are all around us. We don’t usually do specialty dining but might consider it this time, after reading your review.

I think your cruise is what you make of it.

Safe travels home.

Same question about the cheese.  On our last cruise, Sept. 2022, they didn’t have the cheese selection in the afternoon in the Oceanview. I brought my gluten free crackers for nothing 😊. Did you get this at the buffet?

Happy birthday!

Enjoy your special day!

1 hour ago, ladylemondrop said:

The shuttle bus was return and was free. I just don’t think they had time to check tickets etc it was so busy and such a short window in port. 
I spent waaayyy too much on soap! Everyone back home is getting soap… 

I bought too much soap on a cruise one time too.  😂. Don’t underestimate it’s weight!

Thanks for the info.  We’ll be in Marseilles with my brother and sister in law June 7, 2024 from 2-8 pm.  This sounds like a nice way to see it.

Does the shuttle offer a return trip as well or you just got back on your own?

Although I do like more organized tours, sometimes it’s just nice to be on your own.  Looking forward to the soaps 😁

We’ve never actually visited Civitavechia so happy to see some photos.  We will be leaving from there again in June 2024 and have been wondering if we should stay there overnight instead of Rome.

Would love to hear about the cookery class if you have time.

Thank you again.

22 hours ago, ladylemondrop said:

I started the day by randomly finding a duck! She’s very cute 🐣 
 

An apology - I did not get any photos from last nights dinner, we shared a table in the MDR with two other couples and I didn’t want to be that rude person with their phone out during dinner. Our table was situated a bit better, that’s the good news. The bad news- food was pretty average. I had Steak Dianne with Hasselback potatoes. The steak was tough and over cooked, the potato was not hasselback just one tiny piece of roasted potato. Disappointing. The snails seem to be a hit though, the chap next to us says he has two portions every evening! 

I opted for liquid dessert again at the Martini bar… These cocktails are too good…

 

Today we went to Cagliari Sardinia. Our tour was Panoramic sightseeing (from the bus) and a stop at a Tuscan farmhouse for cheese and wine tasting. It was busy, five coach loads of us all descended on the farmhouse, and I was a little overwhelmed by it, we usually do small group tours but I didn’t organise any this time. This was the moment I wished I had! The food was excellent of course, locally sourced salami, cheese and prosciutto, served with white or red wine and very gracious Italian hospitality. 

 

Afterwards we drove past the salt lakes and saw Flamingoes! Now that was exciting. They apparently arrived in Sardinia in 1993 and haven’t left. We couldn’t get a good photo as they were not close enough. They look so elegant. 

 

Tonight’s dinner is at the Lawn Club. I’m already dreaming of carrot cake! 
 

 

Looks amazing!  Thanks for sharing.

Last September on Equinox, we we seated way at the farthest corner of the dining room on the first night.  It was awful!

On the next night we asked to be moved and found the new arrangement more suitable with a great team of servers and requested the same table every night.

We did notice the MDR food had changed but were, then, fine with it. I hope your second meal in the MDR is better than your first.

We haven’t booked any specialty dining for our November cruise on Silhouette. We may have to think about it.

Thank you for sharing your review.

Looking forward to your posts.  We will be sailing in Silhouette in November. 
 

No questions for now but am happy to read your posts and see your photos. 

Enjoy your cruise! 

12 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

There is no elite plan. There is a menu of drinks which are included during the happy hour. If you go off menu, you need to pay for your drink.

Hi!  Would you know if this menu is available somewhere?  It would be nice to see it before deciding to go AI or not.

Thank you.

Stay on the ship!  

Thanks for the tip.  My invoice dated June 9, 2021 doesn’t show anything other than Venice and there is no mention of the alternate port.  

I checked the prior booking from 2020 and there’s  there either.

Like others, I am disappointed.  It’s obvious there’s a change but it would have been nice to be informed by my TA since it will affect our travel plans.

48 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The cruise ship ban for docking in Venice Island has been in the news for well over a year. I believe you are on the Constellation leaving Sept 15th, if you look at the Celebrity website you will see the itinerary evens says Ravenna is the departure port. Our HAL Oosterdam cruise has been moved to RT from the Venice industrial port on the mainland which is not great either. No more Sailaway's through the Grand Canal but at least for now we have a cruise. 

I am still surprised I haven’t heard anything from my travel agent.  I’ve really not been keeping up on cruise news obviously.  I need to get back on this and have contacted my TA.  

Yes, at least for now we have a cruise. We can dream.

This is all news to me. I haven’t heard a thing about this from our travel agent or Celebrity.  

I haven’t really been following the cruiseship news but you would think our travel agent would have reached out to us.  I just thought I should start looking at our options for our Sept 15, 2022 out of Venice and noticed the roll call talking about Ravenna.  This cruise has already been moved three times due to Covid and Venice was the main reason we selected it.

I will be contacting my travel agent immediately.

3 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

Hi again Christine

 

Yes, the ship was so clean. It was shocking to see the crowds at the airport and I didn't get the impression that either airport was being kept really clean. Did you fly back into Ottawa? 

 

Hi again,

We flew back through Monfreal and then Ottawa... two planes, twice the fun.  I was appalled at how dirty the planes were when I wiped our seats and general area.  I will forever be travelling with disinfecting wipes now.

We try to avoid the Toronto airport as much as we can.  We did have to fly through Toronto to FLL.  Ottawa doesn’t have many direct flights, strange as it seems, for an international airport the Nation’s Capital.

All the best to you and your family as we get through this crisis.  Enjoy the new granddaughter, when you are able to see her.  We have a new grandniece that we are dying to see. ❤️

Thank you Maris for a great review and great photos.

I have enjoyed following you and reliving these beautiful locations especially during this isolation period. I’ve been reading you every morning.   We have a cruise booked for August but will be cancelling.  We hope to cruise again someday, but I also think it will be awhile for us.  I don’t think we will be going very far, very soon.  We were planning on buying an RV this spring but that plan is also on hold.

The trip home was our worry as we felt so safe on the ship.  The FLL airport was a scary place along with taxis and airplanes.  We are grateful to be safe in our home and only go out when necessary.  It seems everything changed after we left the Reflection.

I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet, maybe another time.

Stay safe and take care.

Christine

PS: your dogs are gorgeous.  

8 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

That’s right. You told me that about Gatineau. I was just wondering if I saw Tim taking photos on board. 
 

Maris

Well he was probably the only one with an Olympus.  I don’t know how they stay in business as he seems to be the only one who uses them 😊

He didn’t take many photos on the ship this time around, certainly not as many as usual. He mostly shot in port.  Beautiful places for great photos as we can see from your photos.

Hello again,  we live in Gatineau. 

No, Tim does not have Canon, he uses Olympus. Why?

Beautiful view from your home.

Yes, I am also still following and relieving our cruise.

Grand Cayman was just too crowded and although we wanted to get off just to get off and had no real plans, we decided if we ever go back to GC we will be staying on the ship unless we book an excursion.  I think this was our 3rd or 4th time there and really there isn’t much to see.  Also, after returning on board we thought about the number of people in town, the number of ships in port and how it may not have been a great idea to join them this time around.

Tim loves taking pictures too but hardly took any shots this time in GC.  Too many people.

I love the fact that you accidentally just bumped into a Canadian.  It is a small world.

Our excursion stopped at Sorobon Beach.  It was pretty enough, gorgeous water and very shallow.  It was very busy and it was before lunch.  Lots of windsurfers the day we were there.

Not much of a walking beach but quite nice, not long enough.  We didn’t stay very long, but it was a nice visit.

Congratulations on the arrival of your granddaughter.

We ended up on an excursion in Bonaire, booked last minute, on the morning of and really enjoyed it.  Our guide, Jeanette, was very good and full of information.  The contraption you weren’t sure was for on the previous page (does this make sense?) is used to move the salt to the ships for transport. 

Yes, the water was much more pink in person and we also weren’t quite able to capture that colour.

Bonaire was a nice surprise.  We weren’t expecting a lot from this port and quite enjoyed it.  

Great review Maris and wonderful photos!

I’m learning a lot about Curaçao from you.  I must admit, I didn’t do much planning for this trip as we booked pretty late.

Yes, rainy day expected here, but with this isolation, it doesn’t make much of a difference in our plans for today 😊.

We didn’t plan much for Curaçao but went to Mambo Beach in the morning.  It was pretty enough but small and it filled up quickly.  We took a cab back to the ship after our beach walk, had lunch and went for a city walk.  We were also a bit disappointed in the city after hearing so many good things and seeing so many beautiful photos, but I think part of the disappointment was the fact that it was Sunday and there were a lot of things closed by 2pm.  

Sundays are not always good port days.  Something to remember when booking cruises.

BTW, I think that car is a Citroen.  Love it!

Hi Maris,

we are from Gatineau, Qc, just on the the border from Ottawa.  You were right, we went out today and it was a strange world.  We picked up groceries and will be staying put for a while yet.  We are simply safer at home.

I kind of wish we were still on the ship, enjoying our quiet seadays.  Like you, we spent a lot of time in our cabin and our balcony on this cruise.  It was very windy and we found the solarium, which we usually love, too cold.  Our cabin was just perfect! 

I did check our photos from the Heli-pad but there were very few.  Didn’t see you in any of ours.

Looking forward to your next post.

Christine