First time on Celebrity - Silhouette Mediterranean/Adriatic June 15 review

[Sammy1]

We never felt uneasy anywhere at all. I took my point and shoot on a cruise a couple of years ago because I didn't want to switch lens on the SLR all the time and thought it would be easier but I regretted that choice. I wasn't happy with my pictures and I was disappointed. I make a photo book for each trip with MyPublisher or similar sites and I didn't get what I wanted for my book. That is why we love the current camera, no need to switch lens or bring bulky equipment.

The tour was booked through someone on our roll call and I'm not sure the name of the company but can find out if you like. We did 2 Rome in Limo tours - Rome Hill towns and Naples.

Looks like Alabama loves to cruise!!!:D

 

I also would like to know the name of your tour company to Montenegro. We're planning a similar cruise as yours next year, and it looks like your tour was very good. Thanks very much again for your excellent photo report. I too produce a photo book of each of our cruises, and I've become quite fussy re photo quality, and also don't want to lug around a bag full of camera equipment.

 

Sam

[midwestchick]

We never felt uneasy anywhere at all. I took my point and shoot on a cruise a couple of years ago because I didn't want to switch lens on the SLR all the time and thought it would be easier but I regretted that choice. I wasn't happy with my pictures and I was disappointed. I make a photo book for each trip with MyPublisher or similar sites and I didn't get what I wanted for my book. That is why we love the current camera, no need to switch lens or bring bulky equipment.

The tour was booked through someone on our roll call and I'm not sure the name of the company but can find out if you like. We did 2 Rome in Limo tours - Rome Hill towns and Naples.

Looks like Alabama loves to cruise!!!:D

 

I also would like to know the name of your tour company to Montenegro. We're planning a similar cruise as yours next year, and it looks like your tour was very good. Thanks very much again for your excellent photo report. I too produce a photo book of each of our cruises, and I've become quite fussy re photo quality, and also don't want to lug around a bag full of camera equipment.

 

Sam

 

Sam,

I wonder if you would please E-mail me the sites you use for your photobooks. I was using photobucket but it's been such a mess lately...not uploading pics properly.

mrs gumbah at aol dot com I would really appreciate it.

[midwestchick]

Most were from the aft section behind the buffet dining. It is a great spot for pictures. Most others were from our balcony - room 9281

 

 

I take it you were portside. We're portside on our upcoming cruise and it sounds like we'll be able to see most ports when we sail in.:D

[happy 2 b cruising]

Most were from the aft section behind the buffet dining. It is a great spot for pictures. Most others were from our balcony - room 9281

 

We will be on a similar trip in May, your pictures made us want to leave tomorrow :) My husband has a Nikon Coolpix 510, is that similar to your Canon? What was the model of your Canon? Thank - you for sharing your trip with us. Noticed lots of your tours were set up with fellow CC's, our roll call is very quiet, generally how far in advance do people start setting these tours up on the roll calls? Appreciate your experience :)

[lhall85917]

I also would like to know the name of your tour company to Montenegro. We're planning a similar cruise as yours next year, and it looks like your tour was very good. Thanks very much again for your excellent photo report. I too produce a photo book of each of our cruises, and I've become quite fussy re photo quality, and also don't want to lug around a bag full of camera equipment.

 

Sam

 

Sam,

I wonder if you would please E-mail me the sites you use for your photobooks. I was using photobucket but it's been such a mess lately...not uploading pics properly.

mrs gumbah at aol dot com I would really appreciate it.

I will find out the tour company and post the info here. I know you are asking someone else about photo book sites but here is what I use - MyPublisher has covers and options that I like such as a picture spread across two pages and photo covers. I've also used shutterfly and snapfish. For uploading pics I use Picasa because I was grandfathered in with lots of inexpensive picture storage. Try Flickr, they are allowing up to 1 terra bite free storage - that's a lot!

 

We never felt uneasy anywhere at all. I took my point and shoot on a cruise a couple of years ago because I didn't want to switch lens on the SLR all the time and thought it would be easier but I regretted that choice. I wasn't happy with my pictures and I was disappointed. I make a photo book for each trip with MyPublisher or similar sites and I didn't get what I wanted for my book. That is why we love the current camera, no need to switch lens or bring bulky equipment.

The tour was booked through someone on our roll call and I'm not sure the name of the company but can find out if you like. We did 2 Rome in Limo tours - Rome Hill towns and Naples.

Looks like Alabama loves to cruise!!!:D

 

I also would like to know the name of your tour company to Montenegro. We're planning a similar cruise as yours next year, and it looks like your tour was very good. Thanks very much again for your excellent photo report. I too produce a photo book of each of our cruises, and I've become quite fussy re photo quality, and also don't want to lug around a bag full of camera equipment.

 

Sam

 

You and I sound alike, will post tour company when I can.

[lhall85917]

I take it you were portside. We're portside on our upcoming cruise and it sounds like we'll be able to see most ports when we sail in.:D

Yes, it was a wonderful location!

 

We will be on a similar trip in May, your pictures made us want to leave tomorrow :) My husband has a Nikon Coolpix 510, is that similar to your Canon? What was the model of your Canon? Thank - you for sharing your trip with us. Noticed lots of your tours were set up with fellow CC's, our roll call is very quiet, generally how far in advance do people start setting these tours up on the roll calls? Appreciate your experience :)

 

We have a Canon Powershot SX40, I'm not sure how similar it would be to the Nikon. It was very handy for taking all kinds of pictures.

We booked this cruise a month before sailing. All roll calls are different, this time it was fairly easy to join or book tours other times tours get booked up months in advance. For a May trip I would suggest getting tours set up by January, I would even start now as long as it is something that can be cancelled without penalty.

[Sammy1]

I went to your original Roll Call and read with interest how your group planned out your private tours. We also do our own private tours on all cruises...so far, so good! I've tried several photo book publishers, but always come back to Blurb.com. With their upgraded paper, the quality is very good. And, once you're on their mailing list, they send you discount codes from time to time that helps on the price. Sorry for digressing a little from your original topic! And, to follow up with another poster, I too use a Nikon P510...I believe it's quite similar in features to your Canon.

 

Sam

[happy 2 b cruising]

Thank - You, for sharing with me, appreciate your advice.

[lhall85917]

I went to your original Roll Call and read with interest how your group planned out your private tours. We also do our own private tours on all cruises...so far, so good! I've tried several photo book publishers, but always come back to Blurb.com. With their upgraded paper, the quality is very good. And, once you're on their mailing list, they send you discount codes from time to time that helps on the price. Sorry for digressing a little from your original topic! And, to follow up with another poster, I too use a Nikon P510...I believe it's quite similar in features to your Canon.

 

Sam

 

I had meant to mention Blurb, I've used them also. There are lots of good options! We had a great roll call and Tatiana did a fantastic job finding and organizing tours ar the last minute. Thank goodness for CC, lots of wonderful information here!

[TLCOhio]

This church was waaay up the mountain near where we docked with a winding path up to it

 

 

Super love this unique, low-angle picture. Really great visual!! Did you use any special HDR or high dynamic range techniques to create that exposure? Love to hear and learn more. Really like your postings on your trip starting in Venice. Brings back lots of nice memories.

 

For those seeking more on wonderful Kotor and nearby, check this posting. Have had over 13,530 views on this posting and appreciate those who have tuned-in and commented.:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1439193

 

Will keep reading and looking.

 

THANKS for this sharing and postings! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 134,828 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[lhall85917]

Super love this unique, low-angle picture. Really great visual!! Did you use any special HDR or high dynamic range techniques to create that exposure? Love to hear and learn more. Really like your postings on your trip starting in Venice. Brings back lots of nice memories.

 

For those seeking more on wonderful Kotor and nearby, check this posting. Have had over 13,530 views on this posting and appreciate those who have tuned-in and commented.:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1439193

 

Will keep reading and looking.

 

THANKS for this sharing and postings! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 134,828 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Thanks Terry, this was taken from Our Lady of the Rocks church across from the town of Perast. No special lens were used, I used automatic enhancement with the software I use to clean up pictures but nothing else. In fact, it was only very slightly changed from the original. I knew it was a special picture as soon as we retuned to the van and I previewed pictures after the boat ride to the island.

[TLCOhio]

Thanks Terry, this was taken from Our Lady of the Rocks church across from the town of Perast. No special lens were used, I used automatic enhancement with the software I use to clean up pictures but nothing else. In fact, it was only very slightly changed from the original. I knew it was a special picture as soon as we retuned to the van and I previewed pictures after the boat ride to the island.

 

Appreciate the update and added info. YES, excellent eye in recognizing that you had a very special picture from that location. It helps to take lots of pictures. Until you look on the screen and/or laptop, you don't always know things can work.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 134,828 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[lhall85917]

For those asking about our guide in Kotor, the company is owned by Milo, you can contact him at popmilo@rocketmail.com. He was busy that day so our guide was Nenad. He was very good.

[lhall85917]

Split - again a tour with other CC members and our last stop before returning to Venice. If I have one tour regret this was it. We went to Trogir and had a tour of the palce in Split, although our guide was very good, we were finished by noon and I felt that it was extremely overpriced in comparison to other tours. On another cruise we had been to Split and taken a ship's excursion similar to this one - http://www.celebritycruises.com/asr/shorex/shorexExcursionDetails.do?productCode=AT59 and I would recommend it over what we did.

 

View of Trogir

 

 

 

Diocletian's Palace - Split

 

[lhall85917]

When we returned to the ship after our time in Split, we saw these large groups of sailboats nearby. It was fun to watch them, then see the motor boats tow them back to shore.

 

 

 

Sadly, we had to return to Venice. We were supposed to arrive at 10 am but received notice that due to extremely low tides our arrival was delayed until noon. Our plan for the day was to take the vaporetto to Murano and Burano and with the delay we decided to only go to Burano. I was a little disappointed as I had been looking forward to seeing Burano and was hoping to get some great pictures. I'm not sure what I expected but it was nice walking around but not as spectacular as what I thought.

 

sail in pictures -

 

 

you can see how crowded it gets -

 

[lhall85917]

Burano

 

 

 

 

We were up bright and early the next day to head home. Our departure from the ship was at 7:30 then we left for the airport and an 11:30 flight. Using the people mover again we went to Piazelle Roma and bought tickets for the airport express bus. It was quick and easy and a great buy for 6 euro each in comparison to the ship's transfer or water taxi for the two of us.

 

To wrap up, this was one of our all time favorite cruises, it was spectacular in many ways. We are easy to please but not necessarily easy to impress. We were both pleased and impressed with Celebrity. We will definitely look to Celebrity when booking our next cruise. For now our plans are to consider a British Isles cruise next summer but perhaps wait to book a last minute deal like we did for this trip.

 

If anyone has questions, I will do my best to answer.

 

[lhall85917]

For anyone still interested and with lots of time on your hands...here are links to YouTube videos of some of our favorite pictures, I still have to make some for the later ports and also links to entire photo albums for each port.

 

YouTube Naples -

 

YouTube Hill Towns near Rome -

 

YouTube Venice and the Dolomites -

 

YouTube driving in Amalfi -

 

Photo Albums

 

Silhouette - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Silhouette

 

Venice and Dolomites - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/VeniceAndDolomites02

 

Dubrovnik - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Dubrovnik02

 

Rome Hill Towns - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Rome

 

Naples - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Naples

 

Catania - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Catania

 

Valletta - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/VallettaMalta

 

Montenegro - https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Montenegro

 

Split -

https://picasaweb.google.com/101569527514151835454/Split

[Sammy1]

To wrap up, this was one of our all time favorite cruises, it was spectacular in many ways. We are easy to please but not necessarily easy to impress. We were both pleased and impressed with Celebrity. We will definitely look to Celebrity when booking our next cruise. For now our plans are to consider a British Isles cruise next summer but perhaps wait to book a last minute deal like we did for this trip.

 

If anyone has questions, I will do my best to answer.

 

 

 

We're booked a year in advance for our cruise in 2014...one of the main reasons is to make sure we have no problem using points for our air travel....getting to Venice requires a change of planes in Frankfurt. Did you have any problem getting flights to match your cruise dates?

[lhall85917]

We're booked a year in advance for our cruise in 2014...one of the main reasons is to make sure we have no problem using points for our air travel....getting to Venice requires a change of planes in Frankfurt. Did you have any problem getting flights to match your cruise dates?

No, but we didn't have points to use. We paid a bit more than if we had several months to watch for a great fare but it wasn't ridiculous. We did have to look a bit to find the flight returning at 11:30, many were at 6:30 am and we didn't want that.

[Sammy1]

Super love this unique, low-angle picture. Really great visual!! Did you use any special HDR or high dynamic range techniques to create that exposure? Love to hear and learn more. Really like your postings on your trip starting in Venice. Brings back lots of nice memories.

 

I agree with Terry....I can't stop going back and looking at your photo of one of the islands off Perast....wow!! That is a photo I would enlarge and hang on a wall. My only hope is that when we go, we'll have the same perfect weather you had to get a view like that.

[lhall85917]

I agree with Terry....I can't stop going back and looking at your photo of one of the islands off Perast....wow!! That is a photo I would enlarge and hang on a wall. My only hope is that when we go, we'll have the same perfect weather you had to get a view like that.

Thanks, I was very lucky to get that shot, it will definitely find a place in our home soon. Best wishes for your trip, I hope you have amazing weather!

[Oliver Wilson]

Thanks, I was very lucky to get that shot, it will definitely find a place in our home soon. Best wishes for your trip, I hope you have amazing weather!

 

I am really enjoying your review and it is so helpful! Too few people post this kind of very relevant info, sticking more to how great the Molecular Bar is :( Please say you aren't finished yet! Anxious to hear the rest before we head that way later this month. Would it help if I say "go Bama"? ;)

[KaththeTaff]

Fabulous photographs and an excellent account of your cruise. It brings back very happy memories of our cruise on an almost identical itinerary on the Silhouette last June. Thanks very much for sharing.

[lhall85917]

Fabulous photographs and an excellent account of your cruise. It brings back very happy memories of our cruise on an almost identical itinerary on the Silhouette last June. Thanks very much for sharing.

Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed it, I have enjoyed reliving it!

I am really enjoying your review and it is so helpful! Too few people post this kind of very relevant info, sticking more to how great the Molecular Bar is :( Please say you aren't finished yet! Anxious to hear the rest before we head that way later this month. Would it help if I say "go Bama"? ;)

I would be happy to answer any questions, just let me know. Unfortunately, Go Bama doesn't help too much, we are transplants with only a couple of years here under our belts. Who Dey might work! ;) If I think of more to add I will, here is a link to a YouTube video with some of our favorite pics, maybe that will help!

 

Just a little while ago my husband said that he can't stop thinking about how special this trip was, too bad we can't book another one this summer!

[mayfieldlodge]

I am interested in the tour you did in Malta, was this organised by the ship and what did you think of it? I am on the Silhouette next week and I am undecided about what to do in Malta?. Any feedback would be good thanks :)