Review of Our Trip to Barcelona and Solstice Cruise

[JHUNTGOLF]

Our September 2011 Vacation to Barcelona, Spain and 12 Day Cruise on Celebrity's Solstice

 

 

I am writing an extensive day-by-day description of our vacation. Hopefully, this information may prove helpful to others planning a similar trip. If you have any questions, please e-mail me at jhuntgolf@comcast.net.

 

We booked this vacation/cruise in mid-April 2011. After the booking was complete, we started planning everything we wanted to see and do. Ultimately, we ended up with 10 couples going on the trip, and we booked private transfers and tours and did not use Celebrity for any of these.

 

 

Day 1 (September 13, 2011)--Leaving for Barcelona, Spain

 

We decided to book an 8 passenger stretch limo to take six of us to the airport. It actually wasn't very expensive compared to the other alternatives. The roundtrip cost was $416, but when you divide that by 3, it works out to about $139 per couple for a roundtrip ride. We didn't think that was too bad, especially when we saw this huge black limo pull into our driveway. Now, this is the way to start a vacation. Two couples from our neighborhood were picked up at 1:30pm and another couple in Roswell was picked up at 2:05pm before we headed to the Atlanta airport. We arrived at the airport at 3:45pm. The limo company we used was Flavor Limousine (www.flavalimo.com). We highly recommend using this company.

 

Check in at the airport went smoothly, and we boarded our plane on time for our scheduled 5:55pm departure to Barcelona on Delta flight #114. We left the gate and taxied out to the runway and then just sat there for a few minutes. Everything was going great. Little did we know what was about to happen. We thought we were just waiting for traffic to clear until the pilot announced at 6:20pm, "We have a mechanical problem and will have to return to the gate." He added that a mechanic needed to look at the problem. We then parked at a gate with everyone milling around drinking water. This certainly isn't the way you want to start a plane trip when you know the actually flying time to Barcelona is about 9 hours!!!

 

During our wait, I did go and introduce myself to another cruise couple I met on our Cruise Critic "roll call." It was a nice visit and passed some time while we were waiting to find out what was wrong with the plane.

 

At 7:25pm, the pilot said the mechanic determined what the problem was and that it would be quicker to get us another plane than to try to fix this plane. He said for us to start to gather our stuff so we could get off this plane to board another one. As you can imagine, there was a collective groan from the passengers because we knew this only meant a further delay in starting our trip to Barcelona.

 

Before we started to deboard the plane, the pilot said it's going to be quicker for the mechanic to put in a new part than for us to get a new plane. At 8:25pm, the pilot says the part is in and "seems to check out okay." Once again, you could hear groans among the passengers because we all want the part to definitely be okay instead of "seems okay."

 

As the plane is now moving back from the gate, it's 9:10pm--over three hours late. As the plane speeds down the runway, I know everyone had the kind of feeling I did--hoping that the replaced part was functioning properly. The plane left the ground at 9:30pm. The pilot said that flight time to Barcelona was 8 hours and 10 minutes.

 

During the flight, I spent some time watching movies on the individual screen each passenger has on Delta's flights. My wife and I had a two person window and isle seat on the left side of the plane. I dozed some, but it's difficult to get too comfortable in an airplane seat. We took advantage of the duty free shopping on the plane and bought two 1-litre bottles of Absolut vodka at $18 a bottle.

 

As we were approaching the runway in Barcelona, I think everyone still had in their mind about the part that was replaced and hoping that everything was definitely okay for our landing. Once the plane touched down and as we slowed down, the passengers actually started clapping. We arrived in Barcelona at 11:45am Barcelona time on September 14 (6 hour time difference). We were 2 hours and 50 minutes late.

 

 

Day 2 (September 14, 2011)--Barcelona, Spain

 

By the time, we got our luggage and went through Customs, it was 1pm. Initially, we couldn't find our driver/guide for our 4 hour city tour and transfer to our downtown hotel for four of us. The other couple was staying at the Marriott Renaissance at the airport so once they got their luggage, they took the hotel's shuttle to the Marriott.

 

We weren't surprised at not finding our driver right away given we were three hours late. After checking a couple times all of the signs being held up with individual names, we finally found Carlos, our driver/guide. We then went to our vehicle--a new 7 passenger Mercedes van. All of our luggage fit perfectly behind the last row of seats. I told Carlos that we were most appreciative that he waited for us despite our plane being three hours late.

 

Carlos then showed us the major sites such as La Sagrada Familia--the world-famous unfinished Gaudi architectural church masterpiece; Park Guell--Gaudi's greatest Park with beautiful city views; Passeig de Gracia--Barcelona's most expensive and magnificent avenue; La Pedrera--Gaudi's most famous building in Barcelona (Casa Mila); Casa Batllo--Gaudi's most astounding contribution to Modernisimo; Casa Amataller and Casa Morera--two of the three buildings on the "Block of Discord;" Plaza España--a most impressive plaza in Barcelona; the National Palace--a very impressive site with great views; the 1992 Olympic stadium; Montjuic Castle--with lots of history and great city views; the Columbus Monument--for the world-famous explorer; Port Olympic--built for the 1992 games (a marina, shops & more); and Plaza Catalunya--the famous plaza in the heart of Barcelona at the top of Las Ramblas. Also, we stopped at the harbor waterfront to take more pictures of the hundreds upon hundreds of sail and power boats.

 

I got 200 euros from an ATM machine near La Sagrada Familia. Initially, I tried to get 400 euros and then 300 euros but the machine said the transaction wasn't authorized. Once I changed my request to 200 euros, I got my money. It seems that some machines will only dispense up to 200 euros for some reason even though my account was authorized for up to an $800 withdrawal each day. The lesson I learned here was to just try a lower euro amount withdrawal if 400 euro or 300 euro withdrawals don't work.

 

Carlos dropped us off at our hotel at 5pm. We had a great tour with Carlos. We booked it through Barcelona Day Tours (www.barcelonadaytours.com) and the cost for the tour and transfer to the hotel was 69 euros per person. To confirm this tour, we did have to make a 50 euro deposit. We felt that doing a combination tour/transfer to our hotel was a great way to start our vacation. It enabled us to get a really good feel about the city and its sights, and it also enabled us to stay awake and alert to try to compensate for "jet lag." I've always felt that when flying to Europe from the U.S. that it's better to stay up all day and into the evening on your day of arrival as opposed to taking a nap once you get to Europe. By doing this, I've found that you can eliminate the effects of jet lag.

 

Our hotel is the 3 star NH Duc de la Victoria. It is just a couple blocks off Las Ramblas' upper end near the Plaza Catalunya. We booked this hotel in April 2011 at the least expensive rate possible for a nonsmoking room with two twin beds pushed together to make a king size bed. Our cost for three nights was 376 euros, which worked out to $536 under a nonrefundable and noncancellable rate. At that time, the U.S. dollar to euro conversion factor was 1.427. Just before we left Atlanta I checked this hotel to see what the room cost would be now. It turns out that the hotel had no rooms available, but if they had them, the cost would be 699 euros, or about $1,003. Barcelona is an expensive city!!!!

 

Once we checked in at our hotel, we dropped off the luggage in our room--very small, but clean and efficiently laid out--and then took a walk to Las Ramblas, went through the massive market just off Las Ramblas called La Boqueria, and sat down at one of the cafes in the pedestrian walkway in the middle of Las Ramblas for pizza and beer. We then walked back to the hotel at 7:45pm. After a little TV, it was time for bed.

 

Today was very warm in Barcelona. I'd estimate that it was in the mid-80's.

 

 

 

 

Day 3 (September 15, 2011)--Barcelona, Spain

 

I woke up a couple of times and finally got up at 4:20am and took a shower. I guess going to bed around 8:30pm last night was too early. I should have stayed up longer so I wouldn't have awakened so early.

 

The hotel is in a quiet area so we didn't hear any of the hustle and bustle associated with Las Ramblas. After my shower, I went to a couple ATM's off Las Ramblas to get money for the day. I wasn't successful. Some of the machines said not authorized and one said I had exceeded my transactions for the day. Well, this really concerned me. I went back to the hotel lobby and using my cell phone logged into its free 30 minute WIFI. I then logged into my bank account and there wasn't anything wrong. It only showed the one ATM transaction I had made yesterday.

 

I met the other couple in the lobby and we walked down Las Ramblas to a Dunkin Donuts to get coffee and some donuts. I took the coffee and three donuts (cost was almost 10 euros) back to the hotel about 8:25am. Turns out that the jet lag hadn't gotten to my wife since she was still sleeping. To her credit, however, she got up, showered, ate the donut and drank her coffee, and was in the hotel lobby by 9am. I was impressed!!!

 

The four of us met Josep, our driver/guide for the day, in the hotel lobby at 9am. We then picked up the other couple at the Marriott Renaissance hotel near the airport. We had arranged with Barcelona Day Tours (www.barcelonadaytours.com) for an all day tour of a cava winery and the monastery at Montserrat. Cava is Spain's version of champagne. I told Josep that at some point today I needed to stop at an ATM. He said no problem and that there would be an ATM at Montserrat.

 

Josep took us first to the Freixenet cava winery. We started our tour at about 10:15am. It was an extremely interesting tour, and this winery was by far the largest any of us had ever visited. In the "new" part of the winery they have over 90 million bottles of cava stored. In total, the winery estimated that it has over 100 million bottles of cava stored. It is just difficult to describe the massive amount of cava bottles we saw. Room after room after room after room with cava stacked from floor to ceiling. At the end of the tour, we got to taste the final product. The cava was very good. The grounds just outside where we started the tour had some very unusual vehicles, such as an old automobile and two motorcycles that were shaped like Freixenet cava bottles. Naturally, we had to sit on the motorcycles for some pictures.

 

From the winery, we headed to Montserrat at about 11:40am. We got to Montserrat around 12:30pm. Josep told us that he would pick us up at 3:15pm for the ride back to our hotel. He also said that we should go to the Basilica first since the Boy's Choir would sing around 1pm. Before describing what we saw, let me give just a small background about Montserrat. It is a monastery that has been in existence for centuries. It has been destroyed and damaged at various times. The current monastery was rebuilt in the late 1800's. When you see it from a distance and up close, Montserrat literally looks like it was built into the side of the 3,000 foot mountain. It is an amazing site. The monastery has about 90 monks, and, among other things, they teach music to the boys in the choir. You can get to Montserrat by car or you can take a cable car from the bottom of the mountain.

 

The monastery has "the Black Virgin Mary" in the Basilica. This is a wooden statue that was carved many centuries ago and was found in a cave. Soot from candles in the cave eventually darkened the wood so it appears to be black.

 

As Josep suggested, we went to the Basilica first. You go through an opening to what you think will be the inside of the Basilica. But, you enter a four sided courtyard with the enormous front of the Basilica facing you. It was pretty amazing. We then entered the Basilica which was overflowing with people. On the Basilica's far wall, high above the alter, you can see the "Black Virgin" and observe each worshipper stop and momentarily pray before the "Black Virgin" and touch her orb. The orb is the only part of the "Black Virgin" that isn't protected by a clear cover. The line to see the "Black Virgin" was long and one of the couples in our group stayed in the line to see the "Black Virgin."

 

At 1pm, more interior lights went on to light up the Basilica. Then, the Boy's Choir came in to sing. They were terrific. The ceremony probably lasted just 15 minutes, but it is something not to be missed. I even used the video mode on my camera to capture the choir's singing.

 

The remainder of our time at Montserrat was spent taking pictures and walking around. We had lunch at the cafeteria and I was successful in getting some euros from an ATM. I first used my wife's ATM card to get 200 euros. Later I went back to this ATM and used my ATM card to get another 200 euros. Finally, having some euros in my pocket felt really good, especially after all of my ATM difficulties the day before.

 

We left Montserrat at 3:15pm and headed back to Barcelona. Josep dropped us off a few blocks from the Plaza Catalunya. We were right at the "Block of Discord." This "block" has several distinctive buildings designed by people, such as Gaudi. You need to see these buildings first hand to understand why it's called the "Block of Discord."

 

The cost of our all day tour of the cava winery and Montserrat was 79 euros per person. We also had to make a 50 euro deposit to confirm this tour. I'd recommend this tour for sure if you have an extra day to spend in Barcelona.

 

Next, we walked back towards Las Ramblas. We stopped to price wine in some stores. We then decided to go to the El Corte Ingles, which is a well know department store chain that has a huge 9 floor store off the Plaza Catalunya. We spent most of our time in the basement, which is a gigantic grocery store. They had a nice wine selection so we bought some bottles to take on the cruise ship. In addition, we bought some tonic water, bottled water, and beer. Four of us went to the 9th floor cafeteria to check out the food. Nothing seemed to appeal to us so we decided to go to the Plaza Real (just off Las Ramblas) where one of the couples had a good meal the night before. Instead of walking down Las Ramblas, we walked down a parallel street and took some side streets, including walking past the old cathedral, to get to Plaza Real. It's so enjoyable walking Barcelona's streets.

 

The outdoor restaurant we wanted to visit had a long waiting line. We didn't want to wait so we went to another restaurant on the square and just had some sangria and beer. Then our friends walked back down Las Ramblas to get the 8:15pm shuttle back to the Marriott Renaissance at the airport. We then walked the side streets going back to our hotel. We stopped at a bakery to purchase some pastries given we really weren't very hungry for a complete dinner.

 

Today was like yesterday in that it was sunny with the high being in the mid 80's.

 

 

Day 4 (September 16, 2011)--Barcelona, Spain

 

I went out this morning to a local bakery one street from our hotel for pastries and coffee. The pastries were outstanding, and the total cost was about one-half of what I paid the day before at Dunkin Donuts. We then headed out for our day at about 9:30am. Our plan was to potentially meet the other two couples at the Picasso Museum at 12 noon. The other two couples had planned to individually go to Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia and take a tour of the interior of the unfinished church.

 

We started out for a leisurely stroll going in the direction of the Picasso Museum. It wasn't easy to find. We got lost a couple times despite being within one block of the museum on our initial pass at it. We eventually got to the museum about 11:30am. We sat in a plaza nearby before we got in the small line at 12 noon to buy tickets (10 euros per person). We didn't see our friends so at 12:15pm we went into the museum. We spent about 1-1/2 hours there. It was very fascinating because the focus of the museum's exhibits were on Picasso's early years.

 

We then walked to the area near the Columbus monument at the bottom of Las Ramblas, and continued walking to the mall that is at the waterfront near the monument. We stopped for a drink at McDonald's then started our walk back to the hotel. We stopped at a Burger King near the bottom end of Las Ramblas. When we were last in Barcelona in 2005, we were able to buy beer in this Burger King. Well, I can report that this is still the case--a large draft beer costs 2.6 euros. This was the cheapest beer we had found in Barcelona. We drank the beer at Burger King's tables that are on Las Ramblas' pedestrian walkway. We just watched wave after wave of people walking up and down Las Ramblas. It was such fun that we had to have a second beer. At about 5:15pm, we started walking back to the hotel. In a surprising development, we saw the other couple staying at our hotel as we were both getting ready to walk down the side street from Las Ramblas. The four of us went back to the hotel where we had a beer in our room before going out to dinner at a close by restaurant on Las Ramblas. The wives had a gelato from a stand on Las Ramblas after dinner. We ended the day going back to the El Corte Ingles department store where I bought one more bottle of wine to take on the cruise.

 

Both couples that went to La Sagrada Familia said the interior of the unfinished church was quite unusual and so vastly different from any other church they had ever visited. They took lots of pictures to document their visit.

 

This was another great weather day--sunny and the mid 80's. We and the other couple at our hotel walked all over Barcelona today. It's a great city where you can walk to many areas of interest. I think the other couple walked further than we did since they actually walked to the unfinished church La Sagrada Familia. Our shoes logged many miles today. I think we'll sleep well tonight.

 

 

Day 5 (September 17, 2011)--Day of Embarkation on Celebrity's Solstice

 

I started the day by going back to the same bakery for pastries and coffee that I visited yesterday. Again, it was delicious. Then, I took a quick trip back up to Plaza Catalunya for a few more pictures, including some shots looking down Las Ramblas. Surprisingly, my camera batteries ran out with my last picture. My camera uses 4 AA batteries, which are rechargeable. Since this trip started, I've taken 540 pictures and some video clips. It was pretty amazing that the batteries lasted this long on one charge.

 

Next, I poured the 2 liters of vodka we bought on the plane into my plastic "rum runner" containers and packed them in our luggage for the ship. I also bought a lime at the local grocery store for our vodka tonics on the ship. We finished packing and I got my shower.

 

We requested Autos Vilar (www.autosvilar.com) to come pick up six of us from our hotel at 11:30am. Carlos arrived at 11:20am and had a large VW van that fit us and all our luggage perfectly. We were all packed up and on our way at 11:25am. Once we were dropped off at the ship, we were checked in and on the ship by 12:30pm. They even gave us champagne and mimosas as we boarded the ship. It was extremely efficient. The cost for the transfer was 50 euros plus tip. This was very reasonable and I would highly recommend Autos Vilar to others.

 

Once you go through the ship's security--x-ray machines and metal detectors--you pass some duty free shops selling beer, wine, alcohol, soft drinks, and water. You can buy whatever you want and as much as you want and carry it on the ship. I went on the ship with my carryon luggage, which included two bottles of wine. Once we met most of our friends that had boarded the ship before us, four of the guys, including me, got back off the ship and went to the duty free store. I bought two bottles of red wine (6 euros per bottle), 6 cans of tonic water (8 euros), and a 6 pack of 1-1/2 liter bottles of water (8 euros) and took these items back on the ship without any problem.

 

We were able to get into our cabins at 1:15pm. We dropped off our carryon luggage in the cabin, put passports, wallets, and jewelry in the cabin safe before heading up to the Oceanview cafe on Deck 14 for a buffet lunch.

 

Our luggage got to our room very quickly before anyone else in our group. We were completely unpacked before 4pm. We couldn't ever recall having our luggage in our cabin before the muster drill. We went to the drill, which was held in a lounge on Deck 5. After it was over, several in our group stayed in the lounge for a welcoming drink. I headed to the Cruise Critic "roll call" meet and greet at the Sunset Bar on Deck 15. There was a very good turnout and Carole (aka Vol Fan) did a great job organizing it. It was quite enjoyable meeting some of the people that you had only known through the "roll call" postings. I then went to find my wife and others in my group. I eventually found them out on Deck 5 having a pre-dinner cocktail. Naturally, I had to join them. Little did I know then that this spot on Deck 5 was going to be our "happy hour" spot during the entire cruise.

 

We had the late seating dinner at 8:45pm. We (the 20 people in our group) ended up with (in my opinion) the best two tables in the entire dining room. We had two tables for 10 that were in the exact middle of the dining room under an impressive chandelier. Dinner ended around 11pm. After walking around some, we headed to bed.

 

Today was another great sunny day.

 

 

Day 6 (September 18, 2011)--Day at Sea

 

We had a nice relaxing breakfast this morning at the Oceanview cafe on Deck 14. I then went to the Cruise Critic meeting at 10:30am. Carole had name tags for everyone. The Cruise Director, Lisa, was there along with a couple of the ship's officers. We had a microphone so everyone introduced themselves and then we took a group photo. Also, this morning, several of the ladies in our group played Mahjong.

 

The Captain came on at noon and gave us an update about the position of the ship and how far we had come from Barcelona and how far we had to go to get to Rome. Basically, we're about half way there. It's partly cloudy and 79 degrees. The lounge chairs on Deck 12 and 14 were pretty full. We decided to camp out just outside the Ensemble Lounge on the starboard (right) side of the ship on Deck 5. This was the same area we had gone to on Deck 5 the day before. It's a nice isolated part of the ship that is extremely quiet. We can also see it from our balconies on Deck 6. We stayed in this location for the rest of the day. We went to lunch and even had "happy hour" in this location. We came up with a slogan for this area. We said, "we'll meet you at 5 on 5." This was code for "happy hour" begins at 5pm on Deck 5.

 

Tonight was the first formal night. Another great dinner was enjoyed by everyone. Some of us also went to the show (song and dance) that began at 11pm. It was very good, then off to bed around midnight.

 

Day 7 (September 19, 2011)--Rome, Italy

 

Today, there are 14 of us (10 from my group) and 2 couples from the Cruise Critic "roll call" that are taking a private 10 hour tour of Porto Ercole and Capalbio. This tour is through Discovery Guided Tours (www.discoveryguidedtours.com). The cost was 900 euros, or about 129 euros per couple plus tip. We were scheduled to meet our driver/guide at the dock at 7:30am. Everyone was there on time. Unfortunately, our driver wasn't. My confirmation, which I reconfirmed a week before I left to go on this trip, said that we would be met at the dock beside the Solstice. We looked and looked for our driver and he was nowhere to be found. We saw other private drivers picking up their clients for the day at this location, but not our driver. I finally asked one of the other drivers if he would call the contact number for Discovery Guided Tours. He did and told us that someone would meet us in 5 minutes. Then, Stephono appeared at 8:05am. It turns out he was parked outside of the immediate dock area where the shuttle buses take passengers from all the ships. He said he couldn't drive in to pick us up. This really didn't make any sense since other passengers were being picked up by their private drivers where we were standing. We just got on the shuttle bus and drove out of the immediate dock area where we boarded Stephono's van and started our tour at 8:20am; nearly one hour late. This wasn't a good start. Hopefully, our day will get better.

 

It took about an hour to get to Porto Ercole--a small fishing village with a quaint harbor. After walking around for about 30 minutes, Stephano was able to get permission to visit the Spanish castle that overlooks Porto Ercole. The castle was originally built in the 6th century and then was expanded in the 12th century and then in the 14th century by Spaniards. The castle has a lighthouse, too. The view from the top of the castle looking back to the Harbor was like a postcard. It literally was picture perfect.

 

Next stop was Capalbio, which has an old walled town within a town. We arrived at 12:45pm. We agreed that Stephano should come back and pick us up at 3:30pm. The walled town was very unique because of the very narrow streets that would wind left and right and up and down. There were small, tiny restaurants and we looked at several menus before deciding on which one to go into for our lunch. The food was fresh and delicious. We walked around the old walled town. I took a lot of photos because everything looked so different. In a lot of ways this walled town reminded us somewhat of Dubrovnik, Croatia, but on a much smaller scale. Around 2:30pm or so, most of us had seen enough of the old walled town and were ready to head back to the Solstice. Stephano showed up at 3pm or so. We decided to go back to the ship at that time and with the time needed to get on and off the port shuttle back to the Solstice, it was 4:15pm.

 

We were very disappointed in how today's tour started because our driver wasn't beside the Solstice at 7:30am, especially since I had reconfirmed everything with Discovery Guided Tours just a few days before our trip started. For this reason, I wouldn't recommend them.

 

Today, the other five couples in our group took the train from the port area to Rome. Some in this group had received special advance purchase tickets for the Vatican's Scavi tour. This tour takes you directly beneath St. Peter's Basilica and you can see such things as Papal tombs to Roman cities of the dead. The others in the group visited various parts of the Vatican and our major tourist sites in Rome. They all had a great time and then took the train back to the port area to reboard the Solstice.

 

Once back on the ship, we dropped our stuff off in the cabin, got a glass of wine and went back to our spot on Deck 5 near the Ensemble Lounge. After all, it was "Deck 5 at 5 time." Of course, we also needed a couple of slices of pizza to go with our wine!!!

 

Over the past two days, our group of 20 for the late seating dinner at 8:45pm lost 8 people to the early seating dinner at 6:15pm. This was an abrupt change that our group hadn't anticipated. So our tables tonight were reduced to 12 people, but it actually became 10 since one of the couples decided to do sushi at 6pm. They weren't hungry for a late dinner. As a result, we just had one table for 10. I wished the other 8 people wouldn't have switched to the 6:15pm dinner because interacting at dinner was something many of us really enjoyed. We could catch up on what everyone had done that day. Now our dinner group had been reduced by 40 percent.

 

After another great dinner, we headed to the 10:45pm show which was a singer of American and Italian songs. He was very good.

 

 

Day 8 (September 20, 2011)--Naples, Italy

 

There was a late start today. The Solstice docked long before 7am, but passengers weren't cleared to leave the ship until after 8am. We had 4 from our group joining some other "roll call" members for a private tour of the Amalfi coast and the ruins of Pompeii. We had 2 others meeting one of their Italian relatives in Naples for a visit and lunch (they also had talks about a coming back to Italy next summer), 4 took the hydrofoil to Capri (17 euros per person each way), and the remaining 8 of us decided to take the train to Sorrento (4 euros per person each way).

 

Once we got off the Solstice, we were bombarded by taxi drivers trying to get us to go on all day tours. We kept walking and said, "no thank you" it seemed like a hundred times. We were told on the ship that it would be a 10 euro taxi ride to the train station. We found our later that our taxi driver ripped us off when he charged us 15 euros for the very short ride. We got on the 11:09am train for Sorrento, and it took about 75 minutes to get there. The train was standing room only once we got to the first stop. There were over 30 stops between Naples and Sorrento, with one of the stops being Pompeii. There was graffiti all over the buildings that we saw between Naples and Sorrento. It was difficult to imagine this much graffiti seen in the course of a 75 minute train ride.

 

Sorrento was a nice little town at the bottom of the Amalfi coast. We walked around and did a great deal of window shopping along a very narrow and long street. We even found Peroni beer (about a 24 ounce bottle) for 1.5 euros. That was a great deal. I again took a lot of photos. We decided to get the 2:55pm train back to Naples. It actually left 10 minutes early. It took 70 minutes to get to the Naples train station.

 

Instead of taking a taxi back to the ship from the train station, my best friend talked to someone on the train and was told that we could take the #1 bus/trolley car from the train station that would take us back to the cruise terminal. You bought the bus ticket in the train station. The best part was it only cost 1.2 euros per person so instead of the 15 euro taxi ride, the four of us got back to the ship for a total cost of 4.8 euros.

 

Back on the ship it was time for some pizza to tide us over until dinner. Then, as usual, it was back to our spot on Deck 5 for happy hour!!!

 

Some of our crowd left to see the 7:15pm show which was two violinists. I watched about 15 minutes of the show and then went back to the cabin to shower and dress for dinner.

 

We didn't know what to expect at dinner tonight since the night before we had gone from 20 people at two tables for 10 down to just 12 people. When we got to the dining room, 6 of our group were at a table for eight, and then our second table was set up for eight, too. Then, we saw that a strange couple was sitting at the second table. This didn't make some of us too happy. We wanted to have dinner with our cruising group, not strangers. However, we understood that the maitre'd couldn't just have a mostly empty table sitting in the very middle of the dining room. As it turned out, this new couple was very pleasant. They were from Toronto, Canada and had been married 6 years. I also think they enjoyed the company of the "old geezers."

 

 

Day 9 (September 21, 2011)--Day at Sea

 

During last night the time went ahead by one hour so it was a late getting up crowd today. It was a very lazy day. I went to a couple lectures in the afternoon. One of the guys won $150 playing Black Jack. There were some early naps on deck and around 5pm we ended back at our happy hour spot on Deck 5. The late seating dinner has the early show at 7:15pm today so there were some early showers to get ready for the show and dinner.

 

The show tonight was illusionist Martin Brock. He was exceptionally good. To me, he was the best entertainer we've seen so far.

 

We ended up with another new couple at one of our tables tonight. This couple was from England. Our waitress gave us some pointers tonight about Santorini, our port stop in the morning. She said that we shouldn't drink the water because even though it is perfectly safe to drink, the chemical make-up of the water includes items that our digestive systems don't tolerate too well. She said you could be in your cabin for a couple of days trying to get over it. We'll be drinking bottled water we take with us. She also told us not to buy anything in Santorini since everything there can be found in Turkey at a much lower price plus in Turkey you can buy it for U.S. dollars. The last thing she told us was to not ride the donkeys up or down from where the ship's tenders arrive to deliver the passengers. She said that a cruise passenger had died falling off a donkey. Plus, she said that if you tried to walk the more than 600 steps, you have to avoid both the extremely smelly donkeys and the donkey "poop" that covers everything.

 

During the day, the Captain announced that there would be 9 cruise ships in port at Santorini. As a result, everything was going to be very crowded. He was going to extend our stay by one hour. The ship was scheduled to weigh anchor at 9am or so at one area to let off passengers that were on Solstice sponsored shore excursions. Then, they would pick up the anchor and go to another area to let off all of the other passengers to board the tender ships that would take them to land where you then get the cable car to the town of Fira. He added that the tender tickets would be made available on a first come first served basis beginning at 9am. This really worried our entire group since we had a private tour for 18 scheduled to begin at 10:15am. However, one of the couples in our group came to the group's rescue. This couple had "Elite" status so they were able to get 18 "Priority Tender Tickets" that would allow all of us to get off the ship first. We were most appreciative of this since it should help us get a head start on the crowds to come.

 

 

Day 10 (September 22, 2011)--Santorini, Greece

 

We arrived at the first anchor spot about 9am. It was well after 10am before the "Priority Tender Ticket" people were taken to the tender. Once on shore, we were in line for about one hour to catch the cable car to the town of Fira. The cable car cost 4 euros per person each way. Boy, would I like to have the cable car concession on this island!!! There are only two sets of cable cars, with 6 cars in each set that hold 6 passengers in each car. As a result, you have a maximum of 36 people go up and at the same time a maximum of 36 people ride down.

 

We then made our way to Pelican Travel (www.mysantorini.com) where our tour would start. We were beginning our tour some 2 hours late because there were 11 cruise ships in port today, not the 9 ships the Captain had thought. Pelican Travel understood why we were late. Our tour guide took us a block up the street to get on our private bus for the 18 of us. We had a really nice tour and stopped at several spots for postcard perfect pictures that included stark white buildings with blue domes. It is just so pretty!!! We stopped at a winery for a 7 euro per person wine tasting. This was nearly $20 U.S. for a couple. The problem was that it was a "tiny" taste of four different wines. This, in our opinion was a total "rip off" so if anyone else takes this tour, I'd recommend you not do the winery stop or, if you do, just decline the wine tasting. For $20, we could have bought a nice bottle of wine.

 

Near the end of the tour, we stopped at a "black" beach (the color of the volcanic ash) where we were able to touch the Aegean Sea. We finally got back to Pelican Travel to pay for the tour. We had paid 189 euros as a deposit to confirm our tour several months ago. The remaining amount we owed was 381 euros, or about 43 euros per couple so our total cost was 64 euros per couple so it was a very reasonable price. I would definitely recommend Pelican Travel, but not the wine tasting part of the tour.

 

We got back in line for the cable car at 3:45pm. It took us 50 minutes to get on the cable car. We got the tender and we were back on the Solstice at 5:05pm. It was definitely time for pizza and happy hour on Deck 5.

 

During our happy hour, it clouded up with a few sprinkles. Then, we saw a complete one-half circle rainbow that started in the sea on the right and arced across the sky all the way to the sea on the left. No one in our group had ever seen any rainbow like this before. It was so unique that I took a video to capture it.

 

We really enjoyed Santorini, but didn't care for the tendering off the Solstice to land and then having to take the cable car up and back to the town of Fira. We just spent so much time waiting in lines to get there and then to get back.

 

When we arrived at one of our two dining tables tonight, we found another new couple sitting there. One table was set for 10 and one table was set for 6. Since we knew we had 12 in our group and two other couples were added to one of our tables previously, that totaled 16 already. We kept trying to tell our waiter that there weren't enough seats at the two tables since there were now 18 of us and only 16 seats. Our waiter just didn't seem to comprehend. Finally, something clicked and two more seats were added to the table of 6. So again tonight we had to introduce ourselves to another new couple. This new couple was from England and was very pleasant just as the other two couples that had been added to our tables over the course of the past couple of days. However, it definitely threw our waiter for a loop given he's seen new people practically every night. Plus, this wasn't what we had hoped for at dinner each night. Instead of conversing with all of our friends we had come with on the cruise, we were introducing ourselves to strangers for dinner. [Later during the cruise and since we've been home, we now understand more fully why the other couples switched to the early seating dinner. They just didn't want to eat a late dinner that started at 8:45pm. At the time, we wished everyone would have talked more about it before the switch was made.]

 

Our waiter has been extremely slow each night. It seemed like we were always the last table getting served everything. Finally, one of my friends spoke to the maitre'd to see if things could be sped up. All of a sudden, the maitre'd was passing out our food, the waiter apologized to everyone individually at our table, and the chef came out to apologize to us. This was a nice gesture, but we still missed getting to the 10:30pm show tonight.

 

 

 

Day 11 (September 23, 2011)--Kusadasi, Turkey

 

We booked a private tour for 20 with Samayli Travel (www.samyelitravel.com). The cost of this tour was $55 per person, or $110 per couple and doesn't include tip or lunch. In order to confirm this tour we had to make a $240 deposit. The remaining amount was due at the end of the tour. This was the only tour where we could use U.S. dollars.

 

We were picked up where the Solstice docked by our guide Bill Ant (I'm sorry but I know this is not the correct spelling of his name). Our bus had my name in the window so naturally one of the guys had to take my picture with the sign. We first went to the House of the Virgin Mary. I have never seen so many tour buses in one place at the same time. It was so crowded and this was early in the morning. We waited in line for a while to go through Mary's house. It was very small. Once outside the house, there was an extremely long wall where people had left prayers scribbled on pieces of tissue paper. It was a moving sight.

 

Next, we went to the ruins at Ephesus. These ruins were extensive and most impressive. We spent well over 2 hours there. Our guide was a trained archeologist so he was extremely knowledgeable and wanted to share his vast knowledge of the area. It was a hot day today and it was crowded. It is tough to imagine how warm it would be in the middle of summer with even larger crowds. The most interesting part of the Ephesus Tour was the Terrace Houses, which required a separate $15 admission price, which was included in our total of $55 per person. The Houses, which are currently undergoing renovation work, just showed you the extravagant lifestyle of the super rich people that had lived in Ephesus.

 

Our guide then took us to lunch. He said he was taking us to some place off the tourist beaten path, but as soon as we saw some other tourist type buses, we knew that wasn't the case. The lunch cost was reasonable at $10 per person, but an 11 ounce can of beer at $5 was outrageous. After lunch, we found out that this restaurant was connected with a carpet making school/factory. We were then provided a demonstration about how a carpet is made. This was interesting to everyone. Then, we were taken into a large room with bench seating around the sides of the room. We were then offered Turkish coffee, Turkish tea, and apple tea and this was nice. Then, they started rolling out carpets of various sizes one after another made from wool, silk, cotton, etc. After the floor was covered with several layers of carpet, none of us knew what was about to happen. The back door opened and at least 10 men entered the room--one man evidently was assigned to each couple to put on the "hard sell" to try to get you to buy a carpet. Despite our repeatedly saying "no," "no thank you," and "we don't need any carpets," the salesman didn't want to take no for an answer. Finally, he got the message and left us alone. Two of the couples in our group expressed some interest in the carpets and they were whisked off to separate rooms with lots of carpets. One of the couples did buy a carpet, and they said they thought it was a good deal. The carpet was wrapped up and put in a carryon bag and they took it with them. We finally left the carpet factory.

 

For many of us, this carpet factory left a bad taste in our mouth because we didn't know the hard sell carpet experience was coming. Our guide said there was one more church we were scheduled to visit. We took a quick poll and decided we wanted to go back to the port since many of the ladies wanted time for some shopping. Our guide said okay. He then proceeded to take us to a leather factory on the way back to the port after some in the group said they wanted to see it. We then agreed that we would only spend 5 minutes there. Those that did get off the bus (I wasn't one of them) said that the leather factory was set up just like the carpet factory--serve you a drink, provide a demonstration, and then put on the hard sell. No one wanted any of this after our carpet experience so they were back on the bus in 5 minutes. We finally got back to the port at 4pm. This really didn't leave the ladies enough time to shop since we had to be back on the ship by 5:30pm.

 

Overall, we thought we had an extremely good tour of the House of the Virgin Mary and the ruins at Ephesus. Our guide was so knowledgeable and his English was excellent. He told us he received his PhD from the University of Texas. The two things that the majority of our group didn't care for were the stops at the carpet factory and the leather factory. We didn't know this was going to happen. Unless you want to have the hard sell put on you, I would highly recommend you tell your private guide that you don't want to stop at any carpet factory or leather factory. To us, it was quite obvious that either the guide or the tour company was getting a "kick back" or "cut" from any carpet or leather sold. Just insist up front that you don't want to go to any of these types of factories. Certainly, at the shops in the bazaar area at the port, there are store after store selling carpet and leather so you can do it there at your leisure versus being subjected to it during a tour. We would recommend using Samayli Travel (www.samyelitravel.com) for this tour of the House of the Virgin Mary and the ruins at Ephesus. However, we would caution you to clearly state that you don't want to visit a carpet factory or leather factory as part of this tour.

 

Although we were running out of time, we did some quick shopping at the bazaar area at the port. My wife bought a nice brooch after some haggling with the jewelry shop owner. The price started at $210, then went to $120 and finally got below $100. She eventually got it for $70. If you buy something in Turkey, make sure you bargain and never pay the price listed.

 

We got on the ship at 5:15pm. We got a quick bite to eat and then went to our happy hour spot on Deck 5. Since we had anticipated that we would be pretty tired after our all day tour in Turkey, our entire group had decided the night before to not go to tonight's formal dinner. We were just going to drink on Deck 5 and then get something to eat on Deck 14. We stayed outside until 9:15pm. We went back to the cabin and watched a movie before going to sleep.

 

 

 

 

Day 12 (September 24, 2011)--Mykonos, Greece

 

We had a very pleasant day in Mykonos. It was a sunny breezy day. We took the shuttle bus ($10 per person roundtrip) from the ship to town. We actually saw the town's mascot Petros II--a huge pelican--twice during our visit and got some great pictures of him (I'm just assuming it's a him because I really don't know).

 

The town had a maze of tiny, very narrow streets. These streets were so narrow that when the small trucks came down the streets, you had to duck into a doorway so you wouldn't get hit. Most of the trucks we saw had scraps and nicks on both sides and after seeing how narrow the streets are we understood why.

 

My wife bought a couple costume bracelets in one store. The price was 12 euros for one and she eventually bargained that price down and got two bracelets for 20 euros. She also bought a black and white pen and ink print of the famous white church in town. Once we get this framed, it should go nicely with other such prints we have from previous cruises that had stopped in Venice, Italy and St. Petersburg, Russia in 2005 and 2008, respectively.

 

We found a little market near the water that had large 1/2 liter bottles of beer for 1.5 euros. This was a good deal. Naturally, my best friend and I had to try one while our wives continued shopping. I bought 4 more and put them in my back pack to take back on the ship. When I got back on the ship, I had to put my back pack through the x-ray machine. Security had me send the back pack through the machine a second time and asked me why the pack was so heavy. I told him I had beer in it. He said it's cheaper on shore isn't it? I said it certainly is and I was on my merry way to the ship's elevators. Our entire group has bought everything on shore from wine, to Ouzo to beer and brought it back on the ship without a problem.

 

Once again, we repeated our daily ritual of happy hour on Deck 5. Then, showers and the 7:15pm show which was Judy Kolba, a comedienne and singer. We thought she was pretty good.

 

 

Day 13 (September 25, 2011)--Athens, Greece

 

After we got off the Solstice, we had to take a quick ride on a shuttle bus from Terminal B to Terminal A where we met our private guide, Vasilius, and our driver at about 8:20am. We had booked this 8 hour all day tour with Private Greece Tours (www.privategreecetours.com). The cost was 40 euros per person. We also booked our private guide through this tour company for an additional 200 euros. We thought the private guide was really needed to give us a much better understanding of what we were seeing and doing. As it turned out this was one of the best decisions we could have made. Plus, the 200 euro cost was being split among 18 people so it meant our tour cost went from 40 euros to about 51 euros per person. I didn't have to make a deposit for this tour, but in order to confirm my reservation, I had to provide the tour company my credit card information.

 

We had a pleasant surprise in Athens today. It was a national cultural heritage day and all the museums were free today. This meant that the 12 euro and 5 euro per person fees for the Acropolis and Agora areas, respectively, were free so we saved 34 euros per couple. Also, we saw no demonstrations or transit strikes anywhere in Athens. [This was a concern given there have been such demonstrations and strikes before and since our visit to Athens.]

 

We went to the Acropolis first. This was a most impressive site high on a hill that overlooks all of Athens. The Parthenon was huge, much larger than I had imagined. You had to be extremely careful walking because of the uneven and slippery marble and limestone surfaces. If you have any difficulty walking whatsoever, I wouldn't suggest you visit the Acropolis. Vasilius was just a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. He walked to various spots and then would give us an explanation of what we were seeing and/or what had taken place at this spot. He was absolutely great and his English was perfect. I naturally took a "zillion" pictures once again.

 

He then took us to the ancient Agora--a shopping center where men could go shopping and talk politics. Again, Vasilius was a wealth of information and just stopped at various points and gave us the history of what had happened there. We next went to lunch in the Plaka area. We all ate at the same restaurant and everyone was happy with what they ate and drank.

 

We went to see Hadrian's Arch and then drove through town to take some pictures from the highest point in Athens. Someone took a great picture of my wife and me with the Acropolis and the Parthenon above our heads in the distance. It turned out so perfect that I've now made it the background page on my computer. After this, we stopped at the Olympic Stadium and the Parliament Building for some pictures. We got great shots of the colorful pom-pom laden guards at the Parliament Building.

 

Part of our tour also included a stop at the new Acropolis Museum. It turned out that most of our group wanted to do some shopping in the Plaka area instead of going to the museum. Four of us, including me, wanted to visit the museum. This museum wasn't free today--cost 5 euros per person. We only had one hour for our visit, but again, Vasilius made the most use of our limited time. He highlighted various things and areas in the museum. We were amazed once again with his vast knowledge of Greece's past.

 

Our private guide, Vasilius, was the best guide I had ever had. I would highly recommend requesting him from Private Greece Tours. He was outstanding!!! Also, Athens was the best port stop by far in my opinion.

 

The late seating dinner had the 7:15pm show tonight. The entertainer was Jon Courtenay, who played a great piano and told some really funny jokes. He was one of the best entertainers we've seen so far. After the show, one of the couples bought us a drink, and we headed to the martini bar to meet up with others in our group. The couple that bought us the drink has been so appreciative of all the precruise planning I did. In fact, prior to the cruise, the husband bought me dinner during a June golf trip to the Pinehurst, NC area as a way of saying "thank you" for everything I had planned for the group. He didn't have to do this so it was a pleasant surprise. [Another couple also took us to dinner after we got home from the cruise to say "thank you" for my cruise planning. They really didn't have to do this, but it was very kind of them.]

 

We also used the ship's laundry today. As a "select" Celebrity member (5 or more cruises with Celebrity), we were given a coupon for a $20 bag of laundry. This was significantly cheaper than the per piece price. We filled the bag up--4 shorts, 7 tee shirts, 2 pairs of socks, and 4 pair of underwear. The $20 price was a good deal.

 

 

Day 14 (September 26, 2011)--Day at Sea

 

It was nice to have a day at sea to relax after three port days in a row. We're planning to go to the special brunch in the dining room at 10am. We also plan to go to a special wine tasting at 11:15am in the Tuscan Grille and a backstage tour at 1pm. These activities are a special perk for "select" and "elite" cruise members.

 

I mentioned a few times during this trip that I took a lot of pictures. My photo taking philosophy is to take as many shots as you can. That way you are almost guaranteed that you'll end up with some great photos. I don't delete anything until I get home and see the photos on the computer. In many instances, the color screen on the camera is too small to really show enough detail to see whether the photo is a great shot or not. Well, so far I've taken 1,724 photos during this trip. The big question now is whether I can go past 2,000 photos!!!!

 

The wine tasting was very good. They had 4 wines--2 white and 2 red. the wine sommelier was quite informative about each wine. We then went to the special brunch in the Epernay Dining Room. It was an elaborate layout with extensive ice sculptures/carvings all over the place. Lots of pictures were taken again. At 1:30pm, we went to the backstage tour. This gave us a new perspective of what the entertainers go through for each performance. We were told that a "trade secret" the performers have is to use a spray bottle filled with one part vodka to 9 parts water to freshen up their costumes. They said that this works much better than something like Febreze. We both liked this tour.

 

Happy hour started earlier today on Deck 5. At one point, we had 10 people, including a couple from Ottawa, Canada. This Canadian couple was really enjoyable. They went with us on one of our tours and we would see them most days at our happy hour.

 

One of the couples in our group got lucky this afternoon. They were attending the glass blowing demonstration on Deck 15. They suggested to the glass blowers that some of the glass pieces that had been made during this cruise be raffled off. The hosts agreed and passed out the raffle tickets to everyone there. Then, our couple's ticket got chosen so they got their choice of three pieces that were being raffled off today. They chose a very beautiful vase that had Solstice 2011 and the artist's name etched on the bottom.

 

The show tonight was Pete Matthews, a juggler and comedian. He was very good and had the highest energy level of any performer I had seen. I really liked him.

 

There was a thunderstorm and rain during the night. It's really the first significant rain we've seen, but rain at night is okay with me.

 

 

Day 15 (September 27, 2011)--Valletta, Malta

 

We were docked a little before 7am this morning. I actually got up early to see the Solstice sail into the harbor. It was too dark to take pictures, but it was a very pretty harbor. Once we got near the dock, the Solstice did a 180 degree turn in the harbor so that it was facing out to sea. The maneuverability of these massive ships is amazing!!!

 

I booked a 4 hour tour of Malta with Amy Pace (www.maltaonlineguide.com). Amy had just started back to school as a 5th and 6th grade teacher. Her students weren't back in school yet so her headmistress allowed her to take the day off so she could do our tour. The cost was an extremely reasonable 25 euros per couple. All 20 in my group were booked for this tour, but one of the guys felt a little dizzy last night so this couple didn't go of the tour with us. He was going to pay the 25 euro cost but one of the other guys in our group found another couple getting off the Solstice that agreed to go with us on this tour so we were back up to our full complement of 20 people. Our transport was a bus that was larger than a minibus. Amy told us that the bus wouldn't allow us to go down some streets that the minibus could traverse. We certainly understood this for sure.

 

Our first stop was one of the small towns that has a Catholic church as the town's central point. Amy said we could go in the church and take pictures. We didn't really expect that the inside of the church was going to be much to look at given the nondescript nature of the church's outside. Well, were we surprised!!!! The inside of this church was one of the more ornate churches we've ever seen. It was established in 1669. It was just a fantastic little church, and we were so happy to have been given the chance to see it.

 

We then went to the ancient city of Mdina, which was the old capital of Valletta and a fortified city. Here, Amy took us on a walking tour of the city. There were some small streets but most of them were so tiny. It was an enjoyable walk through history. I took picture after picture. Next was the maritime city of Vittoriosa where we got off the bus for a few more pictures. The last stop was the fishing village of Marsaxlokk. It was a quaint harbor with numerous colorful small fishing boats. I even took a picture of a strange looking fish that had wings that was swimming near land. No one in our group had ever seen such a fish. After the fishing village, we headed back to the ship. It was an extremely informative tour that Amy provided. I would highly recommend her to anyone visiting Malta.

 

Once on the ship, we went to lunch and then to Deck 12 for some relaxing. We started smelling cigarette smoke so we went back to our normal hangout on Deck 5 at 4pm to start happy hour a little early.

 

I broke the 2,000 photo barrier today. I've taken 2,051 photos so far!!!!

 

The show tonight was an acrobatic Circus de Solei type show. It was very good.

 

 

Day 16 (September 28, 2011)--Day at Sea

 

This is our last full day on the Solstice as we sail back to Barcelona. I went to the Oceanview cafe at 6:20am and I was just about the only person there. To say that this is a late arriving crowd would be a gross understatement. I leisurely drank a cup of coffee from my stainless steel coffee mug. These mugs are an absolute necessity on a cruise ship because they are both insulated and have a top that closes. This is a huge plus because there is an "onboard requirement" that every husband must bring their wife coffee in bed each morning!!! Failure to do this each morning could result in dire consequences so I brought coffee back to the cabin at 8:10am.

 

The seas are fairly calm this morning, but we have heard some thunder as we sail through some dark clouds. Our weather for this entire trip has been fantastic. The days have been sunny and breezy and most of the time there has been little or no humidity. What a stark change from our summer weather in Atlanta, Georgia. This year we set an all time record for having more than 90 days this year when the temperature has been 90 degrees or warmer. And when it's 90 degrees or above in Atlanta, there is high humidity to go with it.

 

I decided to buy some Absolut vodka today to take back home. The ship had a special buy on certain brands and Absolut was one of them. I got two 1 liter bottles for $16. It's tough to beat $8 for a liter bottle of Absolut; plus there's no tax!!!!

 

We headed down to Deck 5 at 2:30pm so happy hour had its earliest start today.

 

We went to our last show tonight. We again had the early show at 7:15pm. The show was a combination of acts, including the band (with a solo tribute to Louis Armstrong by the trombone player), more juggling and high energy from Pete Matthews, some singing and jokes by Judy Kolba, and a final song by the cruise director, Lisa. She said she performed for 4 years in the musical Mama Mia. Lisa is a really good singer.

 

We then had our final dinner and I had my final bowl of ice cream for dessert. I was consistent at every dinner in that I had at least 3 scoops of ice cream (they make it fresh on the ship). I probably went overboard on it, but I generally don't get to eat ice cream at home.

 

After dinner, we gave our waiters and assistant waiter some additional tip money over and above what Celebrity automatically charges to each passenger's account. This automatic charge is $11.50 per day per person and covers the waiter and assistant waiter and management staff in the dining room and the cabin steward and assistant cabin steward. There were some hugs and handshakes goodbye with our waiters before we left the dining room. Before dinner, we had left additional tip money on our bed for the cabin steward and his assistant.

 

Back in our cabin we packed our suitcases for the trip home in the morning. Since we were doing the self-disembarkation, we left our suitcases in the cabin and didn't have to leave them in the hallway for Celebrity staff to pick up and take off the ship in the morning. I set the alarm for 5am.

 

 

Day 17 (September 29, 2011)--Flying Home to Atlanta, Georgia

 

There was a quick shower and off for our last breakfast visit to the Oceanview cafe. Since we were self-disembarking, we were told to be on Deck 5 outside the Solstice Theater by 6:20am. Our entire group of 20 was there on time. Everything was going smoothly because I had prearranged for a private transfer from the cruise terminal to the airport for all 20 of us. The cost would be 180 euros, or 18 euros per couple. I did this through Costa Blanca Transfers (www.costa-blanca-transfers.com). My arrangement, which I had reconfirmed prior to leaving for Europe, was for a 6:30am pickup outside where all passengers leave the cruise terminal. We thought everything would go well this morning. However, we were wrong.

 

As all self-disembarking passengers had been instructed several days before, we were all dutifully lined up in front of the Solstice Theater on Deck 5 before 6:20am. Unfortunately, there was no Celebrity Solstice staffer there. Just before 6:30am, I called Guest Relations from a hall phone to make sure we were in the right place. I was told yes, we should be on Deck 5 at the Solstice Theater. Then, a minute or so later some Celebrity staffers said everyone had to disembark from Deck 4. Well, as you can imagine, the passengers on Deck 5 were extremely irate. This then meant that you either had to wait for an elevator or carry all of your luggage down one flight of stairs. To us, this was inexcusable on Celebrity's part. They had to know well before hand what deck we would be disembarking from, yet no Solstice staffer came to tell us that we were lined up on the wrong deck.

 

The first couple from our group was outside the cruise terminal at 6:35am. This is the area where all the buses and taxis are lined up. We looked and looked for someone holding up a sign with my name on it. We didn't see my name so we searched through the parked buses. Again, we didn't find my name on any bus. We then called both phone numbers that I was provided. We used two different phones. We got no answer and in one case I was able to leave a voicemail at around 7:05am--35 minutes after our scheduled 6:30am pickup time. I even asked some of the other private transfer people holding up signs for disembarking passengers to make sure we were in the right place. They told me I was in the right place, plus it would be impossible for anyone to not see the 20 of us huddled together with more than 40 pieces of luggage looking for our private transfer. At 7:10am, we made a group decision to take individual taxis to the airport. The taxi fare being quoted was 40 euros so most of us were able to squeeze two couples and our luggage into one taxi. It also meant that each of us had a carryon bag in our laps.

 

It was about a 20-25 minute taxi ride to the airport. Once we got there, our driver said the fare was 41 euros. We only had 40 euros in bills. My wife then started searching for euro change in her purse. It didn't look like we were going to find enough change. Finally, the husband that was in the taxi with us gave the driver a $5 bill and he was happy.

 

Since everybody was arriving at the airport at different times and proceeding through Delta check in and airport security at different times, I didn't see the two guys whose cell phones I had used to try to contact our transfer operator until we were at the Delta departure gate. They both had messages around 7:15am and 7:25am from the transfer operator. The messages indicated that they were looking for us. Well, we were at the agreed to meeting place. I felt bad about our not being able to use the private transfer, but after calling the phone numbers I was given and not getting any answer and waiting 40 minutes past our agreed to pick up time, we had no other choice than to find an alternative means to get to the airport since we were on a 10am Delta flight. You are supposed to check in at least 2 hours before any international flight.

 

I don't want to be too harsh on the transfer operator. All of my prior e-mail dealings with them were very professional and they always responded quickly. I just don't know why they couldn't seem to find us when we disembarked from the ship.

 

By the time we got to Delta's check in counters and through airport security and passport control it was 8am. Our flight (Delta flight #115) boarded on time and we actually pushed back from the gate at 10am. We taxied out to the runway and had to wait until a few incoming jets landed. We left the ground at 10:24am. The pilot said our flying time to Atlanta would be 9 hours and 20 minutes.

 

We landed in Atlanta at 1:35pm--30 minutes early. It took quite some time to get through U.S. Customs. First, there were long lines to get through passport control. Then, a wait to get our luggage, which had to go back through a U.S. security scan. Finally, it was on to baggage claim where we still had to wait for our luggage to show up. A further delay was caused when the airport train system stopped operating. One of the couples traveling with us weren't able to get on the train before it stopped operating. They had to walk to baggage claim. As many of you are probably aware, Atlanta is one of the world's largest airports so this couple had to walk for a while before they arrived at baggage claim. The only good point about this was that their luggage was on the carousel when they finally arrived.

 

When we got on board our 8-person stretch limo for the ride home, it was about 3:40pm. We dropped the Roswell couple off first at 4:30pm and the two Cumming couples got home at 5pm.

 

Well, our 3-night stay in Barcelona and 12-day Mediterranean cruise is over. We had great weather for the entire period and greatly enjoyed Barcelona and all of the ports we visited on the cruise. It was a fantastic vacation!!!!

 

 

Things to Remember

 

 

· Use your ATM card to get euros in Europe. ATM machines are plentiful everywhere you go. Just make sure you have a 4 digit pin and notify your bank prior to your trip of your travel dates and the countries you'll be visiting. If you don't do this, it's likely that your bank would "freeze" your account due to suspicious overseas transactions being made. As I mentioned before, if an ATM machine fails to give you say 400 or 300 euros, just choose a lower amount, such as 200 euros, and you'll likely get your money. I went to the ATM machines five times and got 200 euros each time. These machines wouldn't give me anything higher than 200 euros.

 

· Always be aware of potential pickpockets. No one in our group of 20 was successfully pick pocketed. I found that it's best if the guys put their wallet in their front pocket and when in any type of crowd, just keep your hand in your pocket covering your wallet. For the ladies, take a small purse and keep it hanging around your neck with one hand always firmly attached to the strap.

 

· I've always found it cheaper to take a private tour instead of the ship's excursions. You have a much smaller group and you control what you want to see and do that day. Also, these private operators know that their reputation to get you back to the ship on time has to be excellent otherwise no one will use them. Search sites, such as Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor, to find those operators that have been highly recommended by others. As I mentioned in this review, we were quite pleased with most of the private tours and transfers I arranged. There were some snafus, but that's going to happen so you have to be flexible.

 

· I know people are always interested in the cost of a vacation like this one. Well, as many of you are probably aware, the cost will vary greatly depending on such factors as do you fly coach, business class, or first class and what type of cabin you choose. For example, the least expensive cabin is an interior cabin, but you can opt for balconies that have an extremely wide range of cost depending on things like what deck you are on, the size of the cabin, and the services that may come with the cabin. What's nice about a cruise vacation, however, is that you pay for the major cost items at various times so the total cost doesn't hit you all at one time. For example, you make the cruise deposit early and then the remainder is paid 90 days before the cruise; you book and pay for your airfare months in advance of the trip; and, in our case, we booked and paid for our Barcelona hotel some 6 months before we arrived in Barcelona.

 

· I really enjoyed all of the ports we visited. Probably my favorite ports were Athens, Greece; Kusadasi, Turkey; and Valletta, Malta in that order. Vasilius, our private guide for the Athens tour, was the best guide we have ever had. I would highly recommend that if you ever want an Athens tour that you request him from Private Greece Tours (www.privategreecetours.com). Santorini, Greece was very pretty, but it was such a hassle to take the tender boat from the Solstice to shore and then get in the huge lines to take the cable car up to the town of Fira and then back down to the port area to catch the tender back to the Solstice. We spent so much time just to get to Fira and then to return to the ship.

 

· If you ever get the chance to go to Barcelona, don't miss it. We thoroughly enjoyed our three nights precruise in Barcelona. We also think it's highly desirable to stay in the downtown area of Barcelona so you can immerse yourself in Barcelona's ambiance morning, noon, and night. It's a great city in which you can walk to many of the sites. Right now, Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in the world.

 

 

Well, I hope this information proves useful in any future plans you may have to visit Barcelona, Spain or the various ports we visited on our Solstice cruise.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your excellent review.

[wantocruisemore]

Thank you so much for the wonderful review. I also noticed the same thing about the ATM's in Rome and Sicily. They would only give a max of 250 euros per card per day.

 

We will be in Barcelona on a cruise stop next June. For those that are only there one day, what would you say are the "must sees" beyond the Sagrada Familia. My family likes history and ruins/castles and while nice views are great, we limit them. Tell me some more about Montjuic Castle. While I personally would like to see the Picasso Museum, the rest of the family do not.

[dmk]

Fantastic review!!:)

A question for you...We will also be staying @ NH Duc De La Victoria. We stayed there last year and loved the tranquility and excellent location.

Could you tell me where we could find this cafe near by where you had those delicous pastries?

[JHUNTGOLF]

Fantastic review!!:)

 

A question for you...We will also be staying @ NH Duc De La Victoria. We stayed there last year and loved the tranquility and excellent location.

 

Could you tell me where we could find this cafe near by where you had those delicous pastries?

 

When you exit the hotel lobby, go left and at the street (which is just 30 feet away) make another left. Then, you don't walk very much and there is a tiny side street on the right. Take that street and it dead ends into another street. The pastry shop is on that street.

 

John

[dmk]

When you exit the hotel lobby, go left and at the street (which is just 30 feet away) make another left. Then, you don't walk very much and there is a tiny side street on the right. Take that street and it dead ends into another street. The pastry shop is on that street.

 

John

 

Thank you, John!:)

I can picture the streets. I shall definitely go and seek it out for breakfast.

[baggal]

How was the food on the Solstice?

[JHUNTGOLF]

How was the food on the Solstice?

 

We thought the Solstice food was great. We especially liked the layout of the Oceanview Cafe--very open!!!! We've done Carnival quite a bit and everyone in our group thought Celebrity's food was better.

 

John

[JHUNTGOLF]

Thank you, John!:)

 

I can picture the streets. I shall definitely go and seek it out for breakfast.

 

You won't be sorry and it definitely beats by a long shot the Dunkin Donuts breakfast ,we had the first morning!!!!

[drco]

Thanks for the detailed review. You said that in naples, you took the taxi to get to the train station. How easy or hard was it to get them to take you to the train station as I assume that most would want to take you on a full day tour?

 

Also you mentioned the bus. Where do you take the bus from the cruise port?

 

We plan to take a taxi to the train station but just wan to have a back up plan in case it is hard to get a taxi.

 

Thanks!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the very nice review. It sounds like an excellent cruise, I like the itinerary and the Solstice is first class.

 

Kirk

[JHUNTGOLF]

Thanks for the detailed review. You said that in naples, you took the taxi to get to the train station. How easy or hard was it to get them to take you to the train station as I assume that most would want to take you on a full day tour?

 

Also you mentioned the bus. Where do you take the bus from the cruise port?

 

We plan to take a taxi to the train station but just wan to have a back up plan in case it is hard to get a taxi.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Once we got off the Solstice, we were bombarded by taxi drivers trying to get us to go on all day tours. We kept walking and said, "no thank you" it seemed like a hundred times. Then, after we passed the first big wave of taxis, we started bargaining with some other taxi drivers. We were told on the ship that it would be a 10 euro taxi ride to the train station. We couldn't find a taxi that would take us for 10 euros. It cost us 15 euros and the whole time on the short ride to the train station, the taxi driver still kept trying to get us to do an all day tour.

Instead of taking a taxi back to the ship from the train station, my best friend talked to someone on the train and was told that we could take the #1 bus/trolley car from the train station that would take us back to the cruise terminal. You bought the bus ticket in the train station. The best part was it only cost 1.2 euros per person so instead of the 15 euro taxi ride, the four of us got back to the ship for a total cost of 4.8 euros.

I'm sure if you talk to someone that speaks English once you get off the ship in Naples that they can point out where you would get the #1 bus/trolley that would take you to the train station and they should also be able to tell you where to buy the 1.2 euro ticket. Hope this helps.

John

[newlifeca]

Thanks for the thoughtful review

[luckybecky]

Thanks for the excellent, detailed review, John! I was particularly interested in your notes about Barcelona. We will spend 2 nights pre-cruise and one night post -cruise there. We are sailing on Carnival and will have mostly different ports of call, but the Barcelona info was very helpful.

 

Other than the pastry shop for breakfast, did you find any restaurants for lunch or dinner that you thought were real standouts?

 

Thanks for the info about the duty free shops after the security check. I hope it will work the same way on our Carnival cruise, as one bottle of wine will not be enough for my 12 day cruise! I'm hoping we will be able to pick up some more at the duty free shop after security screening.

 

One other question. We are going to be on the same Delta flight that you took from Atlanta to Barcelona (after connecting from San Antonio). Can you tell me if they served any meal during the flight? What might we expect? Sometimes I look for a sandwich shop in the airport and carry on a lunch. Would you recommend this, or will the in-flight meal be sufficient?

 

Thanks again for all the good info!

 

Becky

[Keith1010]

I wanted to also thank you for posting your very thorough review.

 

Keith

[JHUNTGOLF]

Thanks for the excellent, detailed review, John! I was particularly interested in your notes about Barcelona. We will spend 2 nights pre-cruise and one night post -cruise there. We are sailing on Carnival and will have mostly different ports of call, but the Barcelona info was very helpful.

 

Other than the pastry shop for breakfast, did you find any restaurants for lunch or dinner that you thought were real standouts?

 

Thanks for the info about the duty free shops after the security check. I hope it will work the same way on our Carnival cruise, as one bottle of wine will not be enough for my 12 day cruise! I'm hoping we will be able to pick up some more at the duty free shop after security screening.

 

One other question. We are going to be on the same Delta flight that you took from Atlanta to Barcelona (after connecting from San Antonio). Can you tell me if they served any meal during the flight? What might we expect? Sometimes I look for a sandwich shop in the airport and carry on a lunch. Would you recommend this, or will the in-flight meal be sufficient?

 

Thanks again for all the good info!

 

Becky

 

Becky,

 

We didn't spend much time in any restaurants for lunch or dinner so I don't have any recommendations to offer. Regarding the Delta flight from Atlanta to Barcelona, they did serve a meal--chicken or pasta--but it's an airline meal so don't expect too much regarding quality. It was okay, but certainly not great. To me, you might be better off taking on a sandwich and then just picking and choosing what looks okay from the Delta meal.

 

I really did like the personal entertainment device that each passenger had. I just watched some movies so the flight time passed by quickly.

 

John