Les43

So nice to have a few others joining in the review - thanks! I agree the staff are superb. Was looking forward to the silent disco tonight but alas we have decided to call it a night. Sorry to hear that there are a lot of passengers from the UK with no luggage - what a nightmare. Hope they have it returned soon.

The end of Day 1 and Day 2 onboard - a sea day! So far I have not taken any more photographs as my phone has been in the safe - oops, epic fail and must do better. First of all some thoughts on the rest of day 1 onboard. After unpacking, we dressed for dinner and headed to our favourite spot at the Martini bar for a pre-dinner drink. It was still around 5.30pm so still quite early but the bar was quiet. After a drink we headed for an early dinner in Luminae. We were seated by the window and had fantastic service from Vikal. He simply could not do enough for us. I had the crab cake starter and then the black bass. My DH had the roasted apple green salad and the chicken from the MDR. Vikal insisted on bringing us all of the desserts to try. We couldn’t resist! Food was superb - only the MDR chicken was a bit dry. Everything else was great. After dinner, we wandered through the shops and then ended the evening in the Ensemble lounge for an after dinner liqueur. We opted for an early night as it had been a long day. Clocks went forward an hour overnight which means I have been permanently confused about what time it is! We slept well - we can feel a very slight vibration in our stateroom but nothing that detracts from the experience. We ordered room service breakfast to enjoy on our balcony and it arrived around 9.20am. We had the fruit plat, yoghurt and we both had an omelette. It was nice eating on our balcony before getting ready for the day albeit that the omelette was barely warm. We spent this morning in the solarium, enjoying the hot tub and pool. There seems to be quite a few children on board and we noticed a few families being moved on from the solarium by pool staff. Bar staff were very attentive and bringing drinks to try. We stayed for a while and then headed indoors to get ready for lunch. When we got back to the room , our stateroom attendant was still at work but he stepped aside to let us get a quick change before heading to Luminae for a very civilised lunch. I tried to have a ‘light’ lunch - soup and the Cobb salad. My DH had the frisée salad and the petit filet mignon. We are now back in our room and enjoying the lovely balcony. Tonight is Evening chic so more on that later / tomorrow and hopefully some photographs too!

How awful! Poor folks with no luggage. We can feel a slight vibration in our stateroom - deck 10 midship but nothing to spoil our enjoyment. 😎

In our suite they are ‘Bigelow’ toiletries. Shampoo, conditioner and body wash along with soap at sink and body lotion.

It was Hosteria Pantheon. Sit inside as it has air con!

A brief report of embarkation day thus far. We were collected at our hotel in Rome at 9am - the driver was there early so all good. We had reserved Rome Cabs in advance. They were very efficient and we arrived at Civitavecchia around 10.10am. Our arrival time was supposed to be 11am but no issue to be here a bit earlier. Luggage drop off was a bit chaotic but we quickly dropped off our main bags and made our way inside to check in. We were very glad of the check in inside ! We were very quick through security and shown to the Retreat check in area. It’s a separate are to the main check in with drinks and snacks available. We waited there around 20mins and then got the all clear to board the ship. We were onboard before 11am. Once onboard we found our stateroom - really pleased with our Celebrity Suite. Have added some photos. The lounge area and balcony are very spacious. We met our butler briefly and she explained everything we could expect. We then popped by our Muster station. When we got on board we discovered that our Seapasses were marked with classic drinks and a quick visit to Michael’s Club had the drinks package and Wi-Fi all sorted. Fantastic service. Somewhere along the line we had a drink at the Sunset bar and another in Michael’s and thankfully it was time to go to lunch in Luminae. Very nice lunch - I had the Ceviche and the Lobster roll and my DH had the pea soup and the Luminae Burger. After lunch we checked back to see if the luggage had arrived but it hadn’t yet appeared. We did a quick tour up to the Mast bar and back to our room where the luggage had arrived. We are now just unpacking and getting ready for Sailaway at 5pm. More anon………..

Rome - Day 5 Today has been incredibly hot at 37 C. It’s been impossible to cool off around the city and apparently the temperatures are going to rise even further - gulp! We had a reasonably easy day - a wander via the Spanish steps to Piazza del Popolo where we enjoyed morning coffee and a snack (gelato) and watched the world go by. We then ventured via the riverside to Ponte Saint Angelo and we ventured to the river side for a cool drink. From there a hot stroll to Piazza Navone for more hydration and then to our favourite restaurant for a late afternoon meal. I had Caprese and Spaghetti Carbonara. Have included a photo of the Caprese but forgot to take a photo of the pasta before I started to,eat - oops We decided to venture back to our accommodation to the air con to pack early evening. By that time I was almost ready to expire with the heat. So here we are, relaxing and the bags almost packed apart from the morning essentials and the all-important luggage tags are on. We have Rome Cabs collecting us just after 9am tomorrow. Our arrival time at the port is 11am but we were advised to allow extra time for traffic in the morning. I have a feeling we will be a little early 🙄 We have loved Rome and would certainly recommend our accommodation. I think the temperatures are now getting to be too hot for us especially when we are out and about sight seeing all day. We are now looking forward to embarkation tomorrow and I will report back once we are onboard and settled. 🛳️🎉😎🥵🥳🍷⚓️

Day 4 in Rome We awoke this morning to another glorious, hot day. After breakfast on the terrace ( you know the drill!), we decided to wander to the Colosseum and Forum area. It was only a 20 minute walk, probably just as well as by 11am it was already very hot. The area was very, very busy with lots of tours and the inevitable guys trying to sell tickets to ‘skip the queue’. We wandered round the Colosseum itself and noticed, very long lines of people waiting to go inside, very little shade and none of the usual fake Roman centurions………what I hear you say? Apparently the Rome authorities banned them in 2019 so you can no longer have your photo taken with a guy in a short skirt with a plastic sword! It’s clear that there is a lot of construction work going on in the area and we rather suspect they will be upgrading the tourist spots - it will be a pity if that makes it more like a theme park! We have visited this area a few times before so we opted not to buy tickets to go inside. To be honest I was relieved as the temperatures were very high and there wasn’t much shade. I was also surprised at just how busy it was. It was very very crowded. After a coffee and water stop, we wandered along past the Forum, navigating the street sellers trying to flog fans, hats, bangles and cold water. We walked back to Piazza Navone and found a new cafe to have some Gelato, an ice cold beer and of course some water. We also received an email from Celebrity at this time asking us to complete the health questionnaire - exciting! We stayed in the cafe until around 3pm and then went for a wander around some of the side streets. We had hoped it would have started to cool but alas that was not to be. We began to feel a little hungry so decided to stop for a meal around 5pm. We visited That’s Amore which is not too far from where we are staying. We enjoyed some Bruschetta and a Pizza Cinque Terre (Mozzarella, Pesto and cherry tomatoes) along with some Rose wine (and water of course!) we thought the ice bucket for the wine was unusual! It was a nice simple meal and exactly what we needed. It’s nice to be back now in our suite with the air conditioning! All in all a lovely,relaxing day and only one more left in Rome. We are planning quite a lazy day tomorrow along with the fun of repacking and getting ready for Reflection! 🥳🥳. Hoping everyone navigating the stresses of the travel issues makes it to Rome in time too.

Morning all - it’s Saturday morning in sunny Rome. Just hearing on another forum of folks who are affected by the Air Traffic control strikes in Italy this weekend. Seems that lots of flights are cancelled and some folks are struggling to rebook to make it to Rome. Really hope it all works out - what a nightmare!

It was superb! I have given up on trying to work out how to space the photos. Life is too short! 😂😂😂

Thank you. I have decided just to run the photos together so glad you like them that way!

Day 3 in Rome We slept very well again last night -very comfortable beds and good air conditioning. We had breakfast on our terrace again and even at 9.30am, the temperatures were already rising. The continental breakfast is ideal and sets us up well for the day. We had decided to wander to the Vatican City today. We have visited before so we didn’t book a tour this time. Our route took us down past the Trevi fountain - very busy and the fountains were not yet switched on. We then passed the Pantheon and then on to our favourite spot at Piazza Navone. We stopped here for coffee and water and chose a shady spot. We have been surprised by the number of street traders and beggars on the streets and have watched a few Police chases too. The Police don’t seem to really try to catch them, it’s more a case of cat and mouse! We do love sitting in cafes watching the world go by! After our rehydration break, we continued towards the Vatican, crossing the Ponte St’Angello. We were very glad of our sun hats as by then the sun was very strong ( we are pale skinned Scots)! After arriving at St Peter’s Basillica, we had a wander around and took some photographs of the amazing architecture. We stopped for a light lunch a few streets away and then began the meander back towards the centre. By this time the temperature was circa 34 /35C and very hot and sticky. Rome is incredibly busy and that along with the close proximity of the buildings means there is very little air. Us Scots really are not used to this weather! Since we arrived on Wednesday, we have developed a pleasant routine of eating late afternoon and then heading back to our accommodation to cool off and relax. Today we stopped at a restaurant close to the Pantheon and enjoyed some delicious pasta and a bottle of rose wine. I had the risotto fruiti de mare and my DH had ravioli (no photo of his, he was too fast). Hard to believe that tomorrow is Saturday and not long now until embarkation on Monday. So glad we came to Rome several days early as the Italian air traffic controller strikes this weekend are causing havoc with some flights in. Tomorrow we plan to wander to the Colloseum. More from me after that!

Day 2 in Rome. We slept very well last night and awoke at our leisure. The bed was really comfortable with memory foam mattresses and pillows. My sleep app told me I slept,for,10 and a half hoursThe suites we are staying in provide a continental breakfast delivered to you room which you can enjoy on your terrace. At 9.30am, the Rome temperatures were already rising and it felt like it was going to be a hot day. We headed out for a leisurely stroll around 10.30am and wandered to the Spanish steps. It was very busy! We then wandered around the shopping streets and found ourselves back at Piazza Navona for a cool drink. The temperature today has been around 34C but cloudy and humid. The forecast is predicting even hotter temperatures in the coming days. We are planning on a stroll to the Vatican City tomorrow. I still haven’t mastered the photos yet but hopefully this gives a flavour of our wandering! Lesley

I would definitely recommend our suites. Large rooms, fantastic air-con and a lovely breakfast brought to your room ❤️

Can anyone advise on uploading photos from an iPad? Is it possible to space them out throughout the text?

We have arrived safely in Rome and it is scorchio! We left home at 4am and arrived at Edinburgh airport to long check in queues. It didn’t take too long to check in our bags and head to the departure lounge. We had a quick coffee and marvelled at those who were enjoying lots of alcohol at that time in the morning! The flight left on time and although Ryanair is a budget airline and renowned for issues, it was a good flight with no issues. We collected our bags and the taxi transfer was waiting. It took just over half an hour to get in to Rome and the traffic was a little crazy. We got to our accommodation around noon and thankfully our room was ready. It’s a very spacious suite with an outside terrace. I managed to take a few photographs before we made a mess! The air conditioning works well thankfully as it’s 36C outside and pretty sticky! After unpacking, we headed out to have a wander - we made it the Trevi fountain, the Parthenon and the Piazzo Narvona with a few stops along the way to refuel. We also tried some pizza and beer - why not? when in Rome! The heat is incredible for us pale-skinned Scots so we will need to plan carefully tomorrow. t will be an early night for us tonight after such an early start. I am still learning how to create this blog so bear with me while I try to fix the photographs.

Well, we are all packed and ready to go. Two large suitcases and two carry ons……a girl can never have enough dresses 🙄! It will be a red-eye start in the morning. We need to get up around 3.20am and we will leave for the airport before 4am. It will take us around 40 minutes and traffic will be quiet. It always amazes me how busy airports are at that time but hopefully it will be straightforward! 🤞🏻 So a little about the planning for the cruise. It’s been a bit of a marathon. As I said in my first post, this should have been for my 50th birthday and we have changed itinerary a few times and finally settled on the Greek Islands / Malta trip on Reflection, 3 years later. We have sailed on her before in 2017 and we visited some of the same ports. We loved it.. We have also sailed on Eclipse and Silhouette. I have also sailed on Princess many years ago. We are Select and normally sail in a Balcony stateroom. We did try Aqua when we were last on Reflection. Although the room was very nice, we didn’t really see the benefit of the additional perks and we weren’t too keen on Blu. So now to this cruise…….ahem……. So we started off booking a Sunset Veranda having heard a lot about the lovely views of the wake. We were quite pleased with that and the location but spending lots of time reading these Boards tempted me to look at suite class as that was new to us. I did a fair amount of research and watched the prices fluctuate and eventually in March, I decided to upgrade us to a Sunset Sky suite. It was part of the 70% off the 2nd guest at that time and therefore was a really good deal IMO. I kept telling myself that it was for my 50th after all. Now you would think that would be the end of the story but alas there is another chapter…….. Fast forward to the end of May and in came the Move-Up email. At first we protested loudly that we couldn’t really justify it and then before we knew it, we had talked ourselves in to a few bids after-all we are never successful with these kinds of things! Ok……..so you have worked out the last part of the story? Yep, we bid on the Celebrity Suite, the Signature Suite and a Royal suite and the CS was successful 🥳🥳. I know that the CS is marmite to cruisers on these boards but remember we have never sailed in suite class before so this is all new. So, we are all set and really excited about this trip. I do plan to add photos once we are on our way so hopefully you can bear with me. Onwards to Rome tomorrow! 😎☀️😎🥵

I upgraded via my TA after final payment. There was no issue from either the TA or Celebrity. I am in the UK.

Two sleeps to go until we leave - can you tell that we are excited?! So a little about our Rome plans. We will fly in to Rome Ciampino airport on Wednesday and our accommodation has organised a private transfer in to Rome. We expect to land around 11am if there are no delays so we should be in Rome around noon or thereabouts. We are staying at the Terrazza Marco Antonio Luxury Suites. We have booked an executive suite which has a terrace and they serve breakfast each day to your room. They appear to get very good reviews so fingers crossed! They are located not far from the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps so looks like an ideal location to explore. When we travel, we like to stay in boutique style hotels / apartments which offer something a bit different. We have no concrete plans for our time in Rome. We love to wander, see the historical sites and pause now and again to cool down and take in the atmosphere. With very high temperatures forecast ( compared to Scotland), we are glad that there is air conditioning in our accommodation and we plan to have regular stops to enjoy the local delicacies of Rome. I will post a little about our adventures each day along with some photographs - I need to work out the best way to upload them. Thank you for the encouragement thus far. Hope you will continue to follow along on our trip. Lesley

Thank you. I did see that Santorini is going to be busy when we are there. We have visited before (on Reflection) and we went on a Celebrity tour to Oia and to the wine distillery. The narrow roads were so busy with traffic that we spent longer in the coach than anywhere else. This time we have no tour booked and will just wait and see what takes our fancy on the day.

Great! Feel free to join in this thread once we are onboard! It’s always good to get others’ views.

Ok so packing is almost complete and doesn’t appear to be as stressful as usual - makes me wonder what I have forgotten. We have both finished at work for 3 weeks so feels very luxurious to be almost ready with 2 full days still to go! We are flying with Ryanair from Edinburgh which is your typical budget airline where everything is an extra charge. We have paid for hold luggage to accommodate my multiple outfits! We wouldn’t normally choose Ryanair but they are the only airline that flies direct to Rome and direct home from Barcelona. Our flight is at 06:50 on Wednesday so we will need to leave home around 4am to drive to the airport. At least the traffic will be quiet. Will post tomorrow about our accommodation in Rome.

Thank you! Rome is an incredible city. Looking forward to being back - temperature forecast to be between 34 and 36 degrees 🥵

Excellent! Feel free to add to this review!

Having benefitted hugely from others on CC who have written live / semi-live reviews of their cruises, I have decided to have a go. I have opted to call this a semi-live as I am not sure how often I will be able to update. Be gentle with me as I haven’t tried this before! We are still just over a week away from embarkation but we leave on Wednesday 12th for Rome. We will stay there for 5 nights before transferring to Civitavecchia on the 17th to start our cruise. I hope to be able to share a little of our visit to Rome and then some highlights from our cruise. First a little about us. We live in Scotland and will be flying from Edinburgh to Rome Ciampino on Wednesday. We have cruised a few times before with Celebrity and we are particularly fond of Reflection, having sailed on her 6 years ago. We haven’t cruised since start up so interested to see what has changed. This cruise was supposed to be in August 2020 to celebrate my 50th but we all know what happened then! That cruise was a Caribbean cruise but we moved itinerary a few times since then. We had initially rescheduled the cruise for a Baltic cruise in 2022 after start up but we moved it again after the disruption to Baltic cruises because of the war in Ukraine. We then settled on this Mediterranean cruise. I am 52 (almost 53) and my DH is 56. We are looking forward to a relaxing trip and some time away from work. Over the next few days, I’ll say a bit about our plans for Rome and for the cruise. I hope some of you will follow and would also welcome anyone else on the same cruise who wants to chip in. Now off to do some packing! Exciting times! 😎☀️🍷