In November 2025, after our week in Rome, we took a repositioning cruise on Celebrity Constellation, from Rome (Civitavecchia) to Tampa, Florida.
Out of all my travels in my lifetime, this was my first time taking a Transatlantic crossing westward. Every other crossing I took eastbound!
Most repositioning cruises happen at the beginning or end of North American summertime. For many ships, it is the end of the summer cruise season in Europe, and they cross the Atlantic to move to a summer of Caribbean cruising. This is a common time for nomads to also reposition themselves to adjust to the changing weather. As far as crossing the Atlantic, one of the reasons we liked this 16-night sailing was there were no more than four sea days in a row. We like sea days but we also like them broken up by port stops!
Here were the ports:
Cartagena, Spain
Sound familiar? Yes, we visited Cartagena in May 2025, just six months previously, on an eastward Transatlantic crossing. Cartagena is a neat city with great Roman ruins and delicious vermouth. Having seen the ruins, this time we walked eastward along the bay to enjoy sunshine on the beach.
The path weaves through an old fortress and drops pedestrians right into Cala Cortina, a rocky cove with clear water and a pebbly beach. It was great… except for the flies. There were really annoying flies that kept bothering us so we only stayed an hour.
The rest of the afternoon we spent walking through the streets of Cartagena and having a refreshing vermouth at Del Sol.
Malaga, Spain
I had heard great things about this port, and we were eager to see the Spanish charm. We exited the ship right away and joined the crowd of cruise guests, as there were two other ships also docked in this southern Spanish city.
We started our morning early with a bit of exercise, and climbed to the Alcazaba and Castle of Gibralfaro.
The Alcazaba of Malaga is located on a tall hill that overlooks the port area, creating a natural location for a fortification going back to Phoenician times. The current construction is from the 11th through 14th Centuries, and restored in the 20th Century.
Our walk from the port to the fortress hill was lovely, with palm trees and beautifully terraced gardens. We arrived at Alcazaba before it opened but that meant we were first in line. Once it opened we had most of the fort and its terraces and patios, all to ourselves. It was exciting to explore the nooks and crannies! It did require a lot of stairs. In fact my phone let me know that we climbed 20 floors and we hadn’t even started the real climb up to the castle yet.
For those with mobility issues, there is an elevator that goes to the top of the Alcazaba. This is used by many cruise ship guests, and by the time we made it to the top, that area was already starting to fill with tour groups who had used the elevator. Another good reason to start early and avoid the crowds! If you are independent, it is possible to go elevator-up and then walk down, meaning you will still get the beautiful views and see the lower areas of the Alcazaba.
But there is no elevator to the Castle of Gibralfaro: for that you have to climb. And it was a climb!!
It was already warm by 10 AM on a pleasant November day as we set out on the upward path that zigzagged across the steep hill toward the Castle of Gibralfaro. Each step provided better and better views.
We finally reached the top and walked the walls around gaining a birds-eye-view all around the city and bay. We really got the sense of the castle’s place as a coastal watch tower.
After exploring a bit we walked down the way we came up and meandered through old town and popped into a few shops. For the day, we ended up walking 11 miles and climbing the equivalent of 29 floors.
Malaga had nice architecture and streets in the old town. Palm trees dotted all the plazas and the city felt so lush compared to arid Cartagena. It was interesting to see palm trees grow alongside cypress trees.
There is a large tourist core area and on a future visit I’d like to see the beaches and explore other parts of the city.
Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal
The Azores are a chain of volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, and they are a Portuguese territory. Unfortunately we did not get to visit because of bad weather. Instead the captain changed the port to Madeira, another Portuguese territory in the middle of the Atlantic.
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Since this was our second visit to Funchal, we wanted to experience this beautiful island differently. Corey planned a fantastic day of walking high above the city along one of Madeira’s famed lavadas.
Madeira is wet in the northwest part of the island, but dry in the south, so the Portuguese constructed a series of irrigation canals to distribute the water throughout the island. Adjoining many of these canals are trails of various conditions. They are a good way to traverse the island by foot.
Our lavada started up the hillside. Having missed the bus due to a misreading of Google Maps, we decided to save time and take a taxi upward. The hike itself started right behind the Jasmine Tea House, where we walked several miles on the shaded trail, working our way westward toward the village of Monte. The lavada passed through some small villages and an apparently-abandoned resort community, but mostly through peaceful wooded areas.
The path was mostly flat, but at the end there was a gully that we had to first go down and then go back up. The cable car takes visitors up the hill to Monte so once we arrived it was swarming with cruise passengers.
Corey checked out the church while I got us a spot in the toboggan line. Yes, one of the highlights of Monte is riding a wicker-basket sled down two miles of steep streets. Fortunately you are not driving: there are skilled costumed drivers who take you down, using their feet for both brakes and steering. Check out this reel on our Insta.
It was 35 euros and something I had wanted to do in Funchal. It was fun and little scary but so much better than walking.
Once closer to downtown we continued walking downward until we reached Pereira D’Oliveira for some Madeira wine tasting. What a nice way to wrap up the day.
We strolled back down the wide promenade quietly saying farewell to Europe. We walked 12 miles that day!
Bermuda
This port was also cancelled due to weather. Apparently we were moving through storms on the crossing. That meant that instead of five sea days in a row, we had eight without hitting land. We are pretty used to long stretches of sea days, but there were certainly some restless and unhappy passengers.
Nassau, Bahamas
Can you believe that this is my first time in Nassau? I’ve cruised all over and still find new places to visit!
Our ship was one of the first of six cruise ships to sail into the narrow harbor that day. The ship bobbed up and down as the rays of a beautiful sunrise glittered over the azure Caribbean waters. The ship was cleared just before 8 AM, and we were some of the first passengers off. We quickly walked through the port and headed through the touristy downtown to see some sights.
We passed by so many locals who greeted us with a warm “good morning!” And Corey made a new friend with a local.
We ticked off some tourist checkboxes by visiting the chocolate factory, cigar factory and rum distillery which are all located very close to each other. Corey had visited Nassau on his first cruise in 2008, and remembered how exotic the cigar factory seemed at the time. Nearly 20 years later, it seemed a bit touristy and even run down.
By late morning we were back on the coast. We walked west along Junkanoo Beach, which seemed fine but a bit rocky and full of vendors pushing expensive drinks. West of that is the Fish Fry, a stretch of colorful buildings all advertising fresh and fried seafood dishes. Not many establishments were open at 11 AM but we found a spot that served up a giant portion of conch salad (a local specialty) for $20. We considered enjoying beach time on the way back but it was kind of cloudy. So we slowly walked back to the touristy downtown area and meandered in and out of shops on our way back to the port.
Back on board was at 2:30 PM. While we were glad to have made it to land, this was a strange timespan to call on Nassau. Nothing was open for the first few hours we were there, and there was not enough time to do anything midday before being called back to the ship.
Tampa, Florida and What’s Next
Two days later we returned to US soil as we arrived at the Port of Tampa. From there we stayed on the ship for another 35 days (for a total of 51) as the ship did five seven-day cruises through the Caribbean.
We’ll write up those cruises next (including a better visit to Nassau), but you can also read about the different cabin classes on the Celebrity Constellation in this article on Business Insider.
