irvington

Beautiful sunrise photo!

Is it worth staying in an airport hotel the night before I leave or should I just stay someplace in central Vienna?

Thanks for all this information.

This is helpful to me. I'm a night owl too, with a siesta on sea days. I actually don't mind getting up early but my natural rhythm is to stay up late. My only Celebrity cruise was right after the restart, and it was amazing, but I felt like I was the only person out at 11. I don't want to oppress the staff, but on my cruise this summer it would be nice to know which venue tends to have folks who are out later. I'm not tying a major one on, I just like to be up and out at 12 or 1. Thanks for this thread!

I've done a land vacation in Iceland (right before the pandemic) and it was the most beautiful and otherworldly scenery I've experienced. I've lived in the US West for 30+ years and thought I didn't need to travel to see mountains. If you like history and culture, it is also a great place. The sagas and history are fascinating, and Reykjavik and the nearby area have a number of interesting museums. It is a wonderful place to read up on beforehand and then imagine the sagas while there. I was on another land vacation this last summer in Ireland, and again, fascinating history and wonderful literature to read before or during. And lovely scenery (I say this as a resident of the Pacific NW, but you won't melt with a little mist). I notice you are stopping in Bantry. Staying at Bantry House was one of the highlights of our trip. I'd recommend going for a day visit if you can.

Cruisemom42 is way more of an expert than I am, but it was very hot when we were there in summer of 2021 and the Acropolis-Plaka-Museum idea would be very doable in the time you have alotted. The entrance to the Acropolis hill (realize that is redundant) is on a good side to do all of those things. You would also likely have time to wander across the busy street to the Temple of Zeus area park. (Sorry forgetting names for all of this)

I was on a land trip in Ireland last summer and didn't think the Jameson tour was all that great. It was very mass market. I went because my husband and son are big whisky fans and they were sort of "meh" about it too. I think I liked it more than they did because I hadn't been on a distillery tour. My husband thought it wasn't as good as ones in Kentucky or Scotland. OTOH, I really enjoyed the walk around the historic grounds.

I was in Athens before a cruise the summer before last. Have you thought about hiring a driver, or just getting a taxi to the Acropolis? I'm the same way with you and heat. It would be easy to do both in the same day, and they're very near each other. I would get a ride to the Acropolis first thing, climb as far as you want to, then walk over to the museum (which is amazing).

When I was on Apex last summer, I looked at the menus in the app and used that to decide where to dine on a given evening. Apex was my first Celebrity cruise so I'll let others weigh in on what's different! I enjoyed checking out the different live music venues. I thought Eden bar was really fun for a cocktail.

yes, makes sense. I don't mind paying for a taxi driver or friendly tour guide when I want it, but a shuttle just feels like public transit to me, so I'd rather use the local system. I'm not sure I want to pay $60 for what's described, but of course everyone needs to make their own decision. Thanks for the info. I like to be prepared!

This is good to know. Going with my sons this summer and one of them loves walking (as do I) but the other one will complain (and of course he's the thinnest and fittest of us all). We are comfortable using public transit and a friend who just went to Helsinki said it was very easy to use, so that's probably another option. She recommended the HSL app, I downloaded it, and it seems easy to use.

This has probably been addressed before, but is there a way to search the Celebrity site for those solo cabins? I'd love to be able to see what they have for solo cabins in say April of '24.

This is great to know. I wasn't really kidding about the sneak me in 🙂 I travel a lot for business and, even locally, will sometimes just eat at the bar. I'm comfortable chatting with the host and the waitstaff/bartender and doing something in a low impact way. The flexibility in not making a reservation is what I need, and I'm just not very high maintenance about where I sit. That said, I do look forward to connecting with other solo travelers (or other travelers period) so that's cool to know there may be some ways to do that.

I actually think that's kind of cool that they still have them (sometimes?). I loved when I was young, traveling with my parents, poring over it. Part of the romance of travel for me I suppose. I've gotten used to the Celebrity app on my recent cruises with them but going to a website seems kind of clunky and I Iike being able to write on them which activities I want to prioritize. Hopefully I can request them on my cruise this fall if they aren't otherwise delivered.

I'm a newbie too but traveling solo. I was planning on figuring it out at the time, in case I meet some other travelers who are open to me joining them, or just end up eating solo, which I'm comfortable doing. I'm hoping since I'm just a party of 1 they can sneak me in somewhere, especially if I'm happy to wait and have a drink. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks, this is a great idea.

I'm going to be on Celebrity arriving 30 August 2023. I tried to use the website but I think I am missing something. Is there a way to tell where we will be docking? is it likely to change?

My sons are a bit older but they have enjoyed sleepier cruises at that age. I took my younger son on a trip when he was 18, right when the world opened up, on Apex. He's not someone who minds being around adults and he loved that trip - he brought it up to me last night as a wonderful thing we did together. The one thing he wished it had was a basketball court. I'm a big fan of mother-son trips! My dad's gone now and I have great memories of doing things with him, just the two of us.

Thanks, this is helpful. I like these kind of events but it may not be as good as we get on the West Coast.

These are great ideas!

I'm sure there are more qualified people, but if you are up for a train why not go Amsterdam-wherever-Venice all by train. Seat61.com is amazing for planning train travel. And trains are so much more pleasant to use.

Land trips in Hawaii are incredibly expensive. We are about to head there for a land trip with a group rate at a hotel, but it is still shockingly expensive compared to when we used to travel there 4 to 10 years ago. And food prices are quite expensive too. Restaurants are dear, but it’s also hard when you rent a house to grocery shop for anything like you would at home. I adore Hawaii, and can’t wait for my upcoming trip, but want to be realistic about how expensive it is.

I was looking at this primarily because of the St. Helena stop, but yes a lot of sea days.

I'm sure this may have been beaten to death, and perhaps this is better on the cruiseline board, but the people are so nice here! I have 2 upcoming cruises, one on Celebrity and one on Silversea. For the Celebrity cruise, I'm fine. Went on the same ship 2 years ago and I was in the range of what women wear for dinner. My sons are coming on that one and I just want to make sure they bring a decent dress shirt to wear for dinner. Fin. The Silversea one is where I have (mild) stress. This is a transpacific and I'm going solo. I often travel with my husband, who is a total luggage hawk, so this should be my time to overpack at will, but I'm finding I don't want to wrangle a huge bag if I don't have to. I've got plenty of time to think about this, the cruise isn't until September. I live in an extremely casual part of the world, and by Pacific NW standards I dress up a lot - I go to a fair amount of charity events and things like that. But I usually just wear a black dress and make it dressier with jewelry and scarves and maybe some more dramatic makeup. My goal is just to be in that vast middle of looking suitable for the occasion, not standing out as too casual but not looking to be a focus of anyone's eyes. I don't think I have a formal, full-length dress anymore that fits and it is hard to get excited about getting one. I weigh more than I should so skimpier styles don't look as good on me as they used to. I'd like to continue the above approach but will I look like an idiot? I also have this on my mind because I have an international business meeting (this year in Vienna) and most of the women who attend dress to the nines, and I'm aware my approach puts me on the casual end of the spectrum. But again, buying 2 expensive gowns that I don't especially like to schlepp to Vienna in May and then Japan in September doesn't appeal. This is the essence of a first world problem - embarrassing to post. But here you go. I thought about posting on Silversea but all the threads about formal wear seem to be about whether men have to wear tuxes and so on.

I've been to Japan for 6 weeks, but it was in the mid 80s so I'm pretty rusty! I'm taking a transpacific cruise this fall on Silversea and it ends in Yokohama. Although I'd love to travel around Japan, I will really need to get back to home and work. But I'm thinking it may be stressful to try to fly out the day we dock, plus I'd like to have dinner with a friend who lives in Yokohama. I will ask him for a recommendation for a hotel, but I'm thinking this may be a better place to get a recommendation for a hotel that is convenient as a stopover between the cruise port and the airport. One of the things I know has changed about Japan is the prevalence of English, so I shouldn't be concerned, but the last time I was there I was glad I was traveling with a native speaker. So although I think of myself as a fairly confident solo traveler, I'd love to stay somewhere that gets at least a bit of foreign travelers. Any ideas?