Constellation June 19 - First Time Cruise

My wife and I are taking the Dover to Stockholm cruise on June 19th. If anyone is going/has gone on this cruise, we would love to hear any tips/insights from you.

We are flying to London a couple of days early. Should I reserve my own hotel and arrange transportation to Dover, or go through Celebrity? Also, how about transportation from the ship to the airport in Stockholm?

Any recommendations would be much appreciated, as this will be our first cruise.

Thank you.

Keith

It's much cheaper to handle the hotel reservations yourself.You can book the transfers directly through Celebrity.Their price is cheaper that what you pay if you do it on your own,but there are some limits as to what terminals in Gatwick or Heathrow they'll pick you up and what time at the earliest your flight back can be.I have 12 clients going on the 6/5 Constellation Baltic cruise so I am very familiar with the various options and the costs.

Bill Copeland
All Seasons Travel

P.S. Be prepared to thoroughly enjoy Celebrity.They can't be beaten for the price,and the SERVICE is as good or better that anyother cruise line,some costing much more.They had 7 of the top 10 rankings in the latest Conde Nast reader survey. I've sailed on them for 9 weeks,so far !

Thanks Bill. I'm not really sure what to expect, but it sounds like we made a good choice. Do you have any recommendations on the excursions? There are so many in each port that it is almost overwhelming.

Thanks for the suggetions on the hotel and transportation.

Keith

Keith

We just returned from London May 13, We took the Constellation from Puerto Rico to Dover. London is about 90 miles from Dover and it would be very expensive to travel by car to/from the ship, we were quoted $350. We used a tour the ship provided of London and we were drop off at Victoria station and took a cab to our hotel , tour was $115 each.

We stayed in London 5 nights and we did not use the ships hotels we booked our own. Expect tp pay $250 to $300 for a twin room, we stayed in the Thistle Kensington Park. It was a nice hotel in a good location.

The ship is wonderful, food and service was great. Our cabin was in a new catagory class called, Concierge Class, cabin 9131. This class provided us a lot of nice extras.
The shows where the best I have seen on a cruise ship and we have been on 19 cruises.

Larry

Great information Larry ... Thanks!

Keith

Bill,
It is very nice of you to furnish your expertise on this board to those that post.

Keith,
First time cruiser. You are certainly are in for a treat.
Be sure and have your cabin attendant put two copies of the daily program in your room. Sometimes they will only put one. You have to go to the desk to get another.
Whatever you need, just ask your cabin attendant. Make him or her earn the tip. Make use of them. They are there to please you.
Have a wonderful trip.

Be sure to check out cruisetender.com and cruisecritic.com. Lots of info there.

I found valuable information on both web sites ... thanks!

Keith