Italy & Croatia Adventure- 10 nights on Celebrity Constellation 5/24-6/3

[themillennialcruiser]

Headed out today on a 10 night Italy & Croatia Adventure! My husband and I are in our early 30s and love sailing RCCL but have recently come to love Celebrity Cruise line! We love the loyalty transfer perks too as we are Diamond + for RCCL and that transferred to Elite on Celebrity! Excited to share more of the perks throughout our trip. This will be our 5th sailing on Celebrity and one of the smaller ships we have sailed on. We originally booked an ocean view cabin because the price simply couldn’t be beat, it was a group price through our travel agent which included the always included package for wifi and drinks. To give you perspective our coach round trip flights cost more than this 10 night cruise for 2 adults! We normally prefer to sail in aqua or a suite but the price couldn’t be beat. A week ago i noticed i kept getting emails with a new deal on Celebrity Moveup and decided to put in a last minute bid for aqua class at the minimum and we got it! 
 

On this 10 night sailing we will be visiting 

RAVENNA, ITALY

TRIESTE, ITALY

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA (Overnight)

SPLIT, CROATIA

ZADAR, CROATIA

KOTOR, MONTENEGRO

AMALFI COAST (SALERNO),ITALY

ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY

I selected this sailing because of the variety in ports of call and the overnight in Dubrovnik. We have never visited Croatia and i hear it is absolutely stunning. Excited to share this adventure with all of you! 

We head out tonight from Newark to Venice to spend 1 day there before embarking for the cruise! 
 

Ciao for now!

[Sweety]

Have an awesome cruise. Thank you for blogging.

[Lovetocruise2002]

First of all...so excited for another blog by you! Love the way you guys travel.

1 hour ago, themillennialcruiser said:

To give you perspective our coach round trip flights cost more than this 10 night cruise for 2 adults!

I don't know how Europe prices have been flying out from Newark, but we are headed to Barcelona early July and flight prices have been disastrous from DTW. That is putting it mildly. And we have the freeloaders with us too.  

1 hour ago, themillennialcruiser said:

A week ago i noticed i kept getting emails with a new deal on Celebrity Moveup and decided to put in a last minute bid for aqua class at the minimum and we got it! 

Yay! So awesome!

1 hour ago, themillennialcruiser said:

overnight in Dubrovnik. We have never visited Croatia and i hear it is absolutely stunning.

Dubrovnik is a hidden gem, and it most definitely is stunning! We have only been there once, way back when before the freeloaders arrived. We knew nothing about Dubrovnik, didn't do much research on it. I remember the focus that cruise was all on Italy and France. Anyway, that ended up to be one of our favourite ports. Go high if you can. The view from above is breathtaking there.

Excited to follow along!

[asquared17]

i am ALWAYS here for a bid success story!!!!!!

[themillennialcruiser]

Bonjourno from Italy! We arrived in Venice around 9am after our overnight hop over the pond. We prearranged a private water taxi through our Hotel which was 100% worth it. A driver picked us up at the airport for a short 5 minute drive over to the airport dock and then we boarded our water taxi. 

Our Hotel had a private dock as well which made the experience so enjoyable. We stayed at the Palazzo Vernart which was a beautiful 15th century palace. We booked this hotel through the Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts collection using our Platinum card which gave us $100 of dining credits, breakfast included, and an amenity of prosecco, fruit, and a candle with the hotel’s signature scent.

our room had this private terrace

After we checked into the hotel and got freshened up we headed out for the day. Our first stop was at All’Arco for Cicchetti and a spritz.

We continued our journey to the Rialto Bridge and stopped at a wine bar to grab a glass of to go wine(yes you can take drinks to go!) to enjoy with the views and the rest of our walk to Piazza San Marco. 

We planned a 2pm tour of San Marco Basilica & the Doge Palace with a guide through Viator. The Basilica was breathtaking. The art inside all depicted different stories in the bible. 

After the basilica we headed over to the Doge Palace where we toured the various rooms, prison, and the bridge of sighs. 

I was so glad I only booked a 2 hour tour because we started to hit the afternoon slump! We did some shopping before heading back to our hotel for dinner.

Our Hotel features the Glam restaurant which is the only two Michelin star restaurant in Venice. We booked the Glam bistro which allowed for us to order al la carte vs doing the full tasting menu. With the jet lag i knew there was no way we could make it through a 7+ course meal! The meal was fantastic and the service was incredible.

 

I truly wish we would have had some more time to enjoy the hotel was it was SO beautiful and the service was fantastic. We will absolutely be back to Venice in the future, it is a beautiful city with so much to offer!

[csh_ct9]

Brilliant! So excited to read this and perfect timing. My son and I board Explorer in Ravenna on 22nd June but ours will be a very budget lead trip with all self guided tours. 

[themillennialcruiser]

19 minutes ago, csh_ct9 said:

Brilliant! So excited to read this and perfect timing. My son and I board Explorer in Ravenna on 22nd June but ours will be a very budget lead trip with all self guided tours. 

That is amazing, you are going to love it! If you are planning to visit the Doge Palace & the Basilica in Venice a self guided tour is the way to go! I found even our 2 hour tour to be a little slow.

[cedricmr]

In Split it is very easy, the ship arrives a few minutes walk from the old town. There is a lot to visit while walking around the city. For those I want, there is a small beach nearby.

For Dubrovnik, the ship arrives at the port which is a bit far. Take the shuttle or public buses. Again, there is much to visit and even more for lovers of "game of thrones". For the beach, from the small port of Dubrovnik, possibility to take the public boat to the island of Lokrum. Beautiful, without car. It is a nature reserve. Attention, the site is paid but included in the ticket of the public boat. If it’s a private boat, you’ll have to pay extra.

[themillennialcruiser]

I have never been so grateful for a full nights sleep in a comfortable bed! We woke up and enjoyed some time out on our private terrace at the Palazzo Vernart. After a beautiful breakfast in the Hotel courtyard we headed off to the “People Mover” to catch the shuttle to the ship. I can’t help but think of Disney World when i hear people mover!

 

We booked another private water taxi to take us to the meeting point which was again so worth it.

We had an 11am shuttle but were told to arrive at 10:30am. I see why there have been many complaints about getting to Ravenna from Venice across the RCCL forums and Celebrity. If you have the option I would recommend finding a sailing that leaves from Ravenna and disembarks from a different port of call to avoid the super long trip back and forth. After an hour of waiting in line for the shuttle we boarded the bus. I do want to mention we had to keep our luggage the full time in line, a good thing to keep in mind for how much stuff you might be bringing on your trip. The trip was 3 hours to Ravenna and included a 20 min stop at an outdoor cafe. The cafe had beer and wine and we enjoyed a glass during our stop and made the most of it!

We made it to the ship around 2:30PM and boarded the ship around 3PM. One disappointing thing was that the Ocean View cafe was closed from 2-4pm and with so many people arriving later due to the shuttle line in Venice i was surprised that they would close so early. We ended up grabbing a burger at the mast grill and enjoying some sunshine. 

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we got a Move Up bid for an Aqua Class room last week. The room was nice and clean but definitely showed its age. One good thing about the aqua class rooms on this ship is they come with the spa style shower and glass doors. All other balcony rooms and below come with shower curtains which we don’t love. 
After unpacking we got ready for dinner in blu. One thing i love about blu is no reservations are required so you can show up at your leisure. I love being able to move at our own pace and go to dinner when we wish especially after a shore excursion. 
 

After dinner we enjoyed a few martinis and the show at the martini bar and gave our daily donation to the casino. 
 

Tomorrow we will be in Trieste, Italy!

[Sweety]

Loving your blog.

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 hours ago, themillennialcruiser said:

I see why there have been many complaints about getting to Ravenna from Venice across the RCCL forums and Celebrity. If you have the option I would recommend finding a sailing that leaves from Ravenna and disembarks from a different port of call to avoid the super long trip back and forth. After an hour of waiting in line for the shuttle we boarded the bus. I do want to mention we had to keep our luggage the full time in line, a good thing to keep in mind for how much stuff you might be bringing on your trip. The trip was 3 hours to Ravenna and included a 20 min stop at an outdoor cafe. The cafe had beer and wine and we enjoyed a glass during our stop and made the most of it!

We made it to the ship around 2:30PM and boarded the ship around 3PM.

Note to self...avoid departing from Venice/Ravenna. That does not sound like a good time. I would have been super grumpy by the end of it all. I actually hate waiting for group shuttles, even on a good day. And I didn't even realize it was a 3 hour ride to the port.

[themillennialcruiser]

49 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Note to self...avoid departing from Venice/Ravenna. That does not sound like a good time. I would have been super grumpy by the end of it all. I actually hate waiting for group shuttles, even on a good day. And I didn't even realize it was a 3 hour ride to the port.

I think this may be one of the furthest departure ports from a major city I know of. The bright side was we were still very jet lagged so it was a forced rest day. I can’t imagine having to do that shuttle back to Venice post cruise and then fly back to the US same day. yikes! The Prosecco midway through also helped make the trip a little more enjoyable!

[themillennialcruiser]

Our first port of call brought us to Trieste, Italy. When researching what to do in this port of call Slovenia came up many times as the boarder crossing is only about 15 minutes from the port of Trieste. We opted to do a tour through Trieste Tours that would take us to Lake Bled followed by a visit to Ljubljana. Visits to Slovenia were not offered directly through RCCL which is unfortunate because the country has a lot to offer. I booked this tour for 95€ per person about a month prior to sailing and we got the last two spots. 

While sailing into the port today I noticed this abandoned yacht, come to find out it was a Russian super yacht seized by the Italian government.

After some breakfast at blu we headed off the ship to catch our 9am tour. The trip to Lake Bled was around 1 hour and 45 minutes. On the bus we were given some historical information on the city of Trieste and the history of Slovenia. The drive was beautiful, between driving through mountain tunnels, to seeing Croatia, Slovenia, and the Italy coasts side by side from a mountain view it was worth the trip. 

When we arrived in Lake Bled we were given an hour to explore on our own. We took some photos and walked around the lake for a little bit and then made our way to a beautiful restaurant on the lake for a local glass of wine and beer. The lake was stunning to say the least. There are many hotels that surround and you can bike around the lake, take a boat out, swim, and visit the church and castle. We even spotted a chairlift for skiing and the alpine coaster they had running up on the surrounding mountains. I hope to visit again someday.

We met the group back at the bus to make the trip to Ljubljana which was around 25 minutes from Lake Bled. The city was beautiful with a Boroque architecture blended with a mix of culture. The country is a hidden gem in my opinion. Ljubljana was a lovely city with cafes, restaurants, and shops lining the river. The local people seemed so happy enjoying a street faire and a group of young men singing a famous Slovenian song in the street.

After a short city walking tour we had around 2 hours on our own to explore. We stopped at a local wine bar to enjoy a charcuterie board and some drinks.

We then headed back to Trieste where we had about an hour long drive. Our tour guide played some traditional Slovenian songs including the national anthem on the drive back. I loved the tour and would highly recommend.

Once back in Trieste we stopped to see the town square, the only one in Italy with coastal views and then enjoyed some delicious Gelato by Marco. 

Once we got back to the ship we freshened up and enjoyed an early dinner at blu. After dinner we got a glass of wine at Cellar Masters and enjoyed the sunset and sailaway from Italy on our balcony.

Looking forward to a full day at sea tomorrow!

[Sweety]

Beautiful pictures.

[SMOKEY0202]

Thats been a big problem dealing with itineraries outta Ravenna.  You just have to mentally prepare if coming from Venice.

Last cruise outta Ravenna, many passengers complained that logically it's more of headache to get to port and were totally exhausted by time arrived.  

All can say when buses pulled up at Ravenna port, someone had remark it looked like refugees arriving with long haul, traffic and packed bus like sardines.

Port is industrial and so small, don't expect much of a terminal or anything.  I did first cruise outta Ravenna when cruise line started and it was a pop up tent outside with mini holding area that was so small.  No suite area nor barely any chairs to sit, luggage was lined up in same area as passengers waiting to board.

Only way i do a cruise from Ravenna is flying into BLQ then train to Port.  Much easier and enjoyable train ride.

[themillennialcruiser]

15 minutes ago, SMOKEY0202 said:

Thats been a big problem dealing with itineraries outta Ravenna.  You just have to mentally prepare if coming from Venice.

Last cruise outta Ravenna, many passengers complained that logically it's more of headache to get to port and were totally exhausted by time arrived.  

All can say when buses pulled up at Ravenna port, someone had remark it looked like refugees arriving with long haul, traffic and packed bus like sardines.

Port is industrial and so small, don't expect much of a terminal or anything.  I did first cruise outta Ravenna when cruise line started and it was a pop up tent outside with mini holding area that was so small.  No suite area nor barely any chairs to sit, luggage was lined up in same area as passengers waiting to board.

Only way i do a cruise from Ravenna is flying into BLQ then train to Port.  Much easier and enjoyable train ride.

I agree mindset is everything. We knew going in that it would be a long trip so we prepared ourselves for that. Now that we are here I am grateful as the ports of call seem to be worth the extra travel time.

[mom2mybugs]

looking forward to your blog and loving your pics so far!   We will be going on voyager for an Italy/Croatia graduation cruise next June, and already thankful we are embarking out of Rome and disembarking in Venice!   Thank you for taking us along!  Jane

[themillennialcruiser]

I am always very grateful for a sea day on these longer international cruises. We slept in a little bit and missed breakfast at blu so we headed up to the Ocean View for breakfast. After some food we grabbed coffee before heading to the Beyond the Podium lecture. I love learning something on vacation and Celebrity always has amazing speakers. Today’s topic was on the transatlantic exchange diving into the history of the americas and some of the food that is unique to the americas. 

After the lecture we walked the shops before heading to Sushi on 5 for lunch. Sushi on 5 is an al la carte restaurant. 

After lunch we headed to the Loyalty event for Elite and above and enjoyed hearing the captain and cruise director speak with a glass of wine. 

The art on the ship is so beautiful!

By this point it was mid afternoon so we decided to take another glass of wine to the balcony to read. It was such a beautiful day and with our ports of call to come I wanted to take it easy and stay out of the sun.

Tonight was chic night so after getting dressed up we headed to the martini bar for a pre dinner cocktail followed by blu for dinner.

After dinner we hit the casino for a little bit and enjoyed some of the music on the ship. I was still a little bit hungry after dinner so we grabbed a slice of pizza at the ocean view. 
 

We ended the night with a late night hot tub soak. Using the pools and hot tubs at night is often underrated but such a good way to relax.

Tomorrow we will be in Croatia!

[FionaMG]

Thanks for sharing @themillennialcruiser.

I'm following along with interest as I am looking to do a similar itinerary next year if I can make the dates work for us.

I agree the whole Ravenna thing is a royal PITA.

[themillennialcruiser]

Hello from Dubrovnik, Croatia! Our ship arrived promptly at 8am and we were so excited we headed right off the ship at 8. Because we had an overnight in this port we decided against doing a shore excursion and planned our own day.

The ship docks around 15 minutes away from the old town and Celebrity offered a shuttle bus for $15 PP. I heard last summer this was not charged so some people on the cruise were upset about that. We opted for uber as it was ~7€ each way and we could be on our own time. 

Once we got to the old city we entered through the Pile Gate and purchased the Dubrovnik pass for 35€ each to walk the walls. I recommend doing this as your first activity as it gets really busy and hot later in the day. It took us around 2 hours to walk the entire thing including a stop for a cappuccino, some shopping, and a second stop for a mimosa. The cafes that line the wall are stunning

For those wondering how difficult the wall walk is, i would say its a moderate effort. There are very steep stairs to get up to the wall and to get down. Once you are on the wall itself the walk is fairly easy. The stairs to the fort are very steep and difficult. Make sure you wear shoes with good grips too as the stones are slippery.

Once we finished walking the walls we enjoyed a stroll in the old town and stopped at D’vino wine bar for a glass of local wine.

We then walked over to the cable car station to head up to the top. I believe the tickets were 27€ each round trip. The trip itself is expensive but we had a reservation to visit the Panorama restaurant for lunch at the top of the cable car. The views are unreal from here. If you do want to have a meal at the top make sure you make a reservation well in advance.

We headed back down the cable car after lunch and got some gelato while we waited for our next activity, a 4 hour private boat tour booked through Rewind Dubrovnik. They offered me a 5% discount to offer to you using the code FRIENDS&FAM. 

The boat picked us up in the old town and cost 470€ for 2 people for four hours. We decided to go to the blue grotto and then enjoy some free time at the neighboring Elephiti islands.

The water was freezing so I didn’t get in but my husband swam for around 30 minutes while I enjoyed some wine on the boat that was included in our tour. 

We then traveled to the island of Lopud. We walked around for about an hour visiting the local church, walked along the beach, and then enjoyed some cake at a local restaurant our skipper recommended.

After our visit to Lopud we got a 360 view of the island of Sipan before heading back to the Old Town. I highly recommend seeing Dubrovnik from land and sea views

After our tour we changed out of our swim suits into some dinner clothes and headed to Nautika Restaurant. When we have an overnight in a port stop I love to enjoy a nice dinner off the ship. I think this is a great way to experience some of the nightlife and culture of the city that you can’t do when you leave a port earlier in the day. Nautika is situated right on the sea with majestic views of the walls and the fort. We were seated right on the terrace with views of the sea. We opted to do the 5 course tasting menu as the price was only a little bit more than what we were already planning to order. It was definitely a splurge but a very special meal that we will always remember.
 

We got back to the ship around 9pm and went straight back to our room to rest up for Day 2 in Dubrovnik!

[FionaMG]

Wow, what a lot you packed into your day! Fabulous pics.

[Lovetocruise2002]

It’s beautiful! Just as I remembered! 

[themillennialcruiser]

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

It’s beautiful! Just as I remembered! 

It was stunningly beautiful! I love Croatia and will definitely be back someday.

[themillennialcruiser]

7 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Wow, what a lot you packed into your day! Fabulous pics.

We did! We wanted to make the most of our two days in port and planned a more relaxing day for day 2!

[Lovetocruise2002]

28 minutes ago, themillennialcruiser said:

It was stunningly beautiful! I love Croatia and will definitely be back someday.

I hope to go back one day too. Especially since we were so surprised the first time around (since we knew nothing about the port going into it), I feel like we did not soak it in as much as we could have. Thank goodness Hubby takes a lot of pictures.

[themillennialcruiser]

39 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I hope to go back one day too. Especially since we were so surprised the first time around (since we knew nothing about the port going into it), I feel like we did not soak it in as much as we could have. Thank goodness Hubby takes a lot of pictures.

Photos are so key, i wish we had brought our go pro because I didn’t realize there was as much snorkeling as there is!

[themillennialcruiser]

Day 2 in Dubrovnik - 

After a fabulous day 1 we decided to take it easy on day 2. We got off the ship around 8:30 and took an uber to Banje Beach. The beach is located around 10 minutes from the old town. 
 

The beach is free to enter but if you want to use the chairs at the beach club they cost 25€ each and includes an umbrella. We opted for this option as it is more relaxing. They have beach service as well if you want to order a drink or food to your seat.

Around 12:30 we decided to venture out and find some lunch in the old town.

We wanted some pizza after all of the fish we had the night before and opted for Pizzaria Olivia. I wish i would have taken a photo but we ordered the pizza olivia which was like a shrimp scampi pizza and a fresh burrata pizza. Both were so good!

After lunch we headed to Dubrovnik Beer Company which is a short walk from the port. The old town was SO busy today as the Virgin Valiant Lady arrived in port that morning and it took an extra 15 minutes to get an uber. Good idea to allow extra time if there is more than one ship in port.

We noticed a lot of people enjoying a beer while they waited for their ferry to Hvar or Split as well. After our flight we walked back to the ship and enjoyed a short nap. We had planned to head to the Elite helipad event but there were conflicting times on two fliers we had received and we realized we missed it. We did enjoy sailing away from our balcony though, it was beautiful.

We got ready for dinner at blu. Tonight was the first night we saw blu really packed, it seems around 7 is the most popular time to have dinner.

After dinner we enjoyed a glass of wine at Cellar Masters before checking out the sunset.

We gave our daily donation to the casino and then headed to the Martini bar for a night cap. 

 

Tomorrow we are in Split, Croatia!

[themillennialcruiser]

Hello from Split, Coatia! Today we booked Destination Highlight: Split & History, Sea and Sun with Lunch through Celebrity. Our excursion started at 8:15AM after meeting in the theatre. We disembarked the ship and met our guide outside. We started to walk to the city center which is around a 20-25 minute walk from the terminal and got a short tour of the city of split. One surprising thing to note is we had no headphones/ speaker so it was very hard to hear our guide with a group of 45 people and the tour never mentioned how long the walk would be and to wear comfortable shoes for the walk. Our tour in the old town lasted around an hour before we walked back to the pier to catch our boat to a nearby island Barč. 

We waited for our boat for an extra 30 minutes only to board and find out the trip to the island would be 1 hour and 30 minutes. This meant 3 hours of travel time to an island that takes around 45 minutes on the ferry. In addition to that, the shore excursion mentioned that the ride would be on a catamaran but it was actually an older boat that was much slower. Timing of our trip was never mentioned in the shore excursion notes.

After the boat ride we had a 15 minute walk over to the Olife Beach Club which was open just for our group. They had a pool available for use and beautiful views of the sea. After a quick dip they had lunch ready of Seabass and Mashed Potatoes and also provided a dessert which was like a vanilla pudding with cookies. By this time we only had around 45 minutes to enjoy the beach club and we were so sad when we had to leave. 

After the long boat ride back we walked back to the ship and enjoyed a glass of sparkling rosè on the pool deck.

After walking around for a little bit we decided to head to the Ocean View for dinner to do something a little more casual. The offering in the buffet was impressive with a pasta station, stir fry station, and grill station where you could have your own steak or fish grilled to order. In addition they had a lot of seafood options including fried calamari, shrimp po boy, and more. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying a glass of wine on the balcony sailing between the islands of Croatia. It was magical!

I did visit the shore excursion desk to let them know the excursion wasn’t as described and mentioned the boat description and timing of the trip and they thanked me for my feedback but no other action was taken. I am not one to complain but there was a lot of lack in clarity around the offering of this one.

 

Zadar, Croatia is up tomorrow!

[FionaMG]

I haven't sailed with Celebrity but I have always found Royal's excursion descriptions to be very sadly lacking in detail.

[themillennialcruiser]

38 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I haven't sailed with Celebrity but I have always found Royal's excursion descriptions to be very sadly lacking in detail.

I think it definitely depends. In my experience with European sailings and shore excursions with long travel times they are very clear to mention that, likely due to the amount of complaints in the past. Thinking of Rome, Florence, Paris, Cinque Terre, etc travel days.

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, themillennialcruiser said:

I think it definitely depends. In my experience with European sailings and shore excursions with long travel times they are very clear to mention that, likely due to the amount of complaints in the past. Thinking of Rome, Florence, Paris, Cinque Terre, etc travel days.

True, but I wish they would offer much more detailed info, like Princess do. Not that I've sailed on Princess either but I've dipped into their excursion descriptions on a number of occasions and they're great.

[themillennialcruiser]

2 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

True, but I wish they would offer much more detailed info, like Princess do. Not that I've sailed on Princess either but I've dipped into their excursion descriptions on a number of occasions and they're great.

Totally that is an opportunity for RCCL group in general. 

[asquared17]

i love the little snowman on the martini bar pic!!!!

[themillennialcruiser]

1 minute ago, asquared17 said:

i love the little snowman on the martini bar pic!!!!

that was made by me haha! Our dog is named Elsa so i love a good frozen moment.

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 hours ago, themillennialcruiser said:

I think it definitely depends. In my experience with European sailings and shore excursions with long travel times they are very clear to mention that, likely due to the amount of complaints in the past. Thinking of Rome, Florence, Paris, Cinque Terre, etc travel days.

This is one of the reasons why I tried to book some private excursions this time for our trip to Europe in July. It was not cheap, but I figured with some of the travel time to ports etc., I don't want to be slowed down even further by a group. Especially since we don't know if, or when we will be back to Europe after this round.

[themillennialcruiser]

11 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

This is one of the reasons why I tried to book some private excursions this time for our trip to Europe in July. It was not cheap, but I figured with some of the travel time to ports etc., I don't want to be slowed down even further by a group. Especially since we don't know if, or when we will be back to Europe after this round.

That is a good idea for sure, it is so much more relaxing to be on your own time.

[themillennialcruiser]

Today we are in Zadar, Croatia. I always like to plan one relaxing day a cruise and recently have enjoyed booking spa appointments off the ship and enjoying the amenities. Since we were in port today from 7-4pm I thought it would be a good day to relax and enjoy.

I booked us at the Falknerstein Hotel & Spa Iadera to get a facial and a massage.

The Hotel was around 25 minutes from the port North of the city. Our spa treatments and an amenity pass cost us 385€ for both of us. Once our treatments were done we decided to head to the pool for a cocktail and a swim. 
 

We ventured into something called the Earth Sauna my masseuse recommended only to find it was the nude area of the resort. Needless to say we turned right back around! 
 
On our way to the hotel we noticed there were a ton of wineries so we decided to stop at Degarra Winery for a tasting. Tasting 3 wines plus a charcuterie board were 25€ PP and everything was fantastic.

We called another Uber and made it back to the port around 3:30. Many people were already back on the ship and at the pool when we returned.

I was very hungry at this point as we had only snacked throughout the day so we stopped at the grill for a burger.

I saw the recent news about matching across RCCL and celebrity and went to ask the Loyalty Ambassador about it. She mentioned it would be effective 6/3 so we will be Elite + on our next sailing. I think this is a very exciting addition between the cruise lines however i do hope they find a way to rationalize points across the lines and give a benefit to those that sail across all of the lines. My husband and I have joked we want to be both Pinnacle and Zenith one day and with the loyalty changes who knows that might happen one day!

After getting ready for dinner we headed to the music & mixology event for Elite and above. During this event a bartender will make three cocktails for the audience as the band plays songs that align to the cocktails and the cocktails will be passed around for all to try. Its a great event not to be missed. 

After this we enjoyed dinner at blu followed by the martini bar show.

 

After the show we went to the solarium for a late night hot tub soak. They did have us get out around 9:15 to clean the pools and hot tubs. I always thought they stayed open a little longer but of course understand when they need to clean.

Thats all for today! Tomorrow we are in Kotor, Montenegro.

 

[FionaMG]

2 hours ago, themillennialcruiser said:

Thats all for today! Tomorrow we are in Kotor, Montenegro.

I believe you are in for a real treat. I have not been to Kotor myself yet (hoping to get there next year) but my daughter is currently working on a ship that is calling there weekly and she says it is stunning.

[Lovetocruise2002]

5 hours ago, themillennialcruiser said:

music & mixology event for Elite and above

Do they offer these on short sailings?

3 hours ago, FionaMG said:

calling there weekly and she says it is stunning.

@themillennialcruiser posted a video on her IG story and I just saw it earlier this morning. It is totally stunning! I want to say even more so than Norway.

[FionaMG]

10 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Do they offer these on short sailings?

@themillennialcruiser posted a video on her IG story and I just saw it earlier this morning. It is totally stunning! I want to say even more so than Norway.

My daughter did say it very much reminds her of Norway.