Greece & Turkey The Celebrity Way

How's this for the Deal of the Day? Join Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Constellation on a 12-night Greek Isles & Turkey fly/cruise from just £1,262 per person this autumn (based on two people sharing an inside stateroom).

The price includes return flights from London Heathrow, transfers and a 12-night Greek Isles & Turkey cruise departing from Istanbul and calling at Kusadasi (for Ephesus, Turkey), Bodrum (Turkey), Rhodes (Greece), Marmaris (Turkey), Santorini (Greece), Piraeus (for Athens), Mykonos (Greece) and Chania (Crete) before returning to Istanbul; meals and entertainment onboard and all relevant cruise taxes/fees. Price is based on October 13 departure.

For more info, visit www.celebritycruises.co.uk or the specialist cruise agents of The Cruise Line Ltd on 0800 008 6677.

Head For The Sunshine with Celebrity

Join Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Constellation for a sunshine-laden 12-night Greek Isles & Turkey fly/cruise from just £1,294 per person (based on two sharing an inside stateroom) this autumn.

The price includes return flights from London Heathrow, transfers and the 12-night Greek Isleas & Turkey cruise departing Istanbul and calling at Ephesus, Bodrum, Marmaris, Rhodes, Santorini, Athens, Mykonos and Chania (Crete), before returning to Istanbul; meals and entertainment onboard and all relevant cruise taxes/fees. Price based on September 19 departure.

For more info, visit www.celebritycruises.co.uk or contact the cruise-agent specialists of The Cruise Line Ltd on 0800 008 6677.

European Capital of Culture with Celebrity Cruises

By guest blogger Steve Newman

Now you can combine luxury and culture by heading to Tallinn, the 2011 European Capital of Culture onboard Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Constellation (above). A 12-night Scandinavia and Russia fly/cruise costs from £1,575 per person (based on two people sharing an inside cabin).

Celebrity also offers a selection of shore excursions, such as ‘Glory of old Tallinn’, a walking tour of Tallinn’s Old Town, and ‘Panoramic Tallinn’, a coach tour that takes in the best sights of the city to ensure guests can experience everything it has to offer.

Price includes return flights from London Heathrow, transfers and a 12-night Scandinavia and Russia fly/cruise departing Amsterdam and calling at Berlin (Warnemunde), Stockholm, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Copenhagen before returning to Amsterdam; meals and entertainment onboard and all relevant cruise taxes/fees.

Price is also based on June 15, 2011, departure. For more details, visit http://www.celebritycruises.co.uk/ or call the specialist cruise agents of The Cruise Line Ltd on 0800 008 6677.

The Constellation of Solstice

Since Celebrity Cruises coined the rather ponderous (not to mention downright ugly) word 'Solsticized' in January, we have waited for the full meaning behind it to become evident. At the weekend, guests embarking on Celebrity Constellation in Amsterdam got the full story.

As regular World of Cruising readers (and those who partake of this Blog) will know, the advent of Celebrity's Solstice-class vessels in 2008 brought a new level of big-ship sophistication and style to the premium cruise world, and the line's bigwigs decided that was a good reason to retro-fit a variety of their new ships' features on to their Millennium class vessels. Constellation is the first fruits of these particular labours.

And, following an intensive 15-day dry-dock, the 8-year-old Constellation now boasts some of the most popular venues found on the widely-lauded Solstice Class. These include:

• The tantalising Tuscan Grille steakhouse

• The vibrant creperie, Bistro on Five

• A “cool” new ice-topped Martini Bar

• The inviting Café al Bacio and Gelateria

• Cellarmasters wine bar

Cellarmaster comes complete with Celebrity's state-of-the-art wine serving systems known as “Enomatics,” allowing guests to select and serve wines by the glass, at the touch of a button, while other notable 'Solsticizations' include more sumptuous suites, with all-new furniture, flat-screen TVs, upholstery, bedding and carpeting; restyled staterooms, with entirely new carpeting, flat-screen TVs, upholstery and bedding; and new colour schemes, carpeting and upholstery reflective of the Solstice Class’ stylish, modern design in every public venue.

It all amounts to a dramatic enhancement of a fleet which was already fairly impressive. Or, as Celebrity president and CEO Dan Hanrahan explained: “Our newly-Solsticized Celebrity Constellation is a significant outgrowth of our ‘Designed for you’ brand platform, built around our long-time commitment to identifying and designing what our guests want. By adding Solstice Class features we know our guests love to our already award-winning Millennium Class ships – with the impeccable service our spectacular crew delivers across the entire fleet – we’re confident we have a winning combination, expressly designed for discerning cruisers.”

And, while the marketing spiel, 'outgrowth' and 'brand platform' may be tough to swallow (how about just saying "Our message"?), it definitely serves notice Celebrity intend to be at the forefront of this more stylish version of cruising for some time to come.

* Constellation is the first of the line’s four Millennium-class ships to be “Solsticized.” Infinity and Summit will be similarly refurbished in 2011, followed by Millennium in 2012.

Following her current seven-night Norwegian fjords cruise, Constellation will offer a series of 12-night Scandinavia and Russia cruises, followed by an 8-night Northern Europe and Mediterranean cruise from Amsterdam to Barcelona, where the ship will operate a series of round-trip, seven-night Med voyages, before a 14-night transatlantic voyage departing Barcelona in November for Fort Lauderdale and a winter Caribbean/Panama Canal series.