mahdnc

The old movies continue to be shown on the stateroom television. Von Ryan’s Express (1965) was on this evening. Juno (2007) was on last night.

To give you some idea, here is the shore excursion brochure for this years westbound Constellation Transatlantic sailing which I am currently on: link

So as far as blackjack goes, there were three tables in operation at the Fortunes Casino: 1. $6 table. Multiple deck. A continuous shuffling machine of sorts. 6:5 payout for a blackjack. You can double after splits. 2. $10 table. Multiple deck. Manual shuffling. 6:5 payout for blackjack. You can double after splits. 3. $10 table. Single deck. Manual shuffling. 6:5 payout for blackjack. You cannot double after splits. You had to play at the $25 and $50 table to get a traditional 3:2 payout for blackjack. Neither of those tables have been opening on this cruise due to lack of demand.

I played blackjack at the casino from 8-11 pm this evening. For those three hours I was the only one at the single deck/$10 table. In fact the casino was largely empty. The other two active blackjack tables including the $6 table had only a couple of players. The $25 and $50 tables were idle and not even staffed. Early on I figured it was because people were at the evening show, but as the night wore on, it was clear that was not the answer. I finally asked the dealer where everyone was and she politely told me that the European and Transatlantic itineraries have an elderly passenger demographic that go to sleep by mid evening. She said by midnight the casino is usually shutdown because it is empty. She also went on to say that it will change when Constellation beings its winter Caribbean season. That passenger demographic is typically younger, likes to party, and hits the casino well into the evening.

I played blackjack at the casino from 8-11 pm this evening. For those three hours I was the only one at the single deck/$10 table. In fact the casino was largely empty. The other two active blackjack tables including the $6 table had only a couple of players. The $25 and $50 tables were idle and not even staffed. Early on I figured it was because people were at the evening show, but as the night wore on, it was clear that was not the answer. I finally asked the dealer where everyone was and she politely told me that the European and Transatlantic itineraries have an elderly passenger demographic that go to sleep by mid evening. She said by midnight the casino is usually shutdown because it is empty. She also went on to say that it will change when Constellation beings its winter Caribbean season. That passenger demographic is typically younger, likes to party, and hits the casino well into the evening.

I’ve yet to see any favorable offers being made for specialty dining. I had the filet mignon two nights ago and my wife had it tonight. The steak was excellent both times.

Dessert at the Tuscan Grille:

I took the last two lemon tarts tonight

Current position: We are a day and a half from our stop at Nassau.

They are offering the usual incentive for booking on board. Up to $500 OBC depending on the cabin category and length of the cruise booked. I can send a photo of the flyer that has the offer later tonight. Or someone may post it for me. It’s the same offer that’s been out there for a while. Coincidentally, we just visited the Future Cruises department today to put down a $100 pp deposit that allows us to book another cruise 18 months from now—and qualify for the same OBC offer.

Antipasti board at the Tuscan Grille:

EIGHT: That is the number of kids under 18 years old on board this sailing. FOUR: That is the number of youth counselors on board. My wife and I went up to Deck 11 and dropped by the "Camp at Sea", the brand name that replaced the "Fun Factory" that we knew when we brought our young two kids on board Celebrity cruises many years ago. We talked to the camp counselor and found out the above information. I guess this is one department that is not understaffed. When we took our first M-class cruise (Infinity, 2002), the Fun Factory was located on real estate now occupied by the Aqua Class cabins on Deck 11 (Cat A1). Back then the Sky Lounge occupied the full width of the ship giving its occupants a view of the port and starboard sides.

Nice story! This morning I took a photo of the Chihuly from directly underneath the sculpture. Below it I am reposting the other photo I took for comparison.

Here are some photos from yesterday that I was unable to post until now (because of Cruise Critic this time and not from the ship’s internet connection). View from the Oceanview Cafe during breakfast: Halloween decorations at Guest Relations: I finally hit the blackjack table yesterday. This dealer was as beautiful as she was deadly: The San Marco dining room at lunch time. It looks empty because all of the guests were seated by the windows along the sides of the restaurant: A view from our balcony before dinner time:

Our final stop on the tour was a visit to the bridge. We first first had to undergo another security check before going there. Two security personnel performed the check. A female security employee checked the women visitors while a male security person checked the men. The highest ranking officer on the bridge at the time we visited was Sara, who is the person on the left in the photo below. This bridge tour was not as good as some previous one I’ve taken with CC roll call groups that have been invited by the Captain. The main reason being that this behind the scenes tour kept us at a distance from examining the bridge controls. My thought was that may have been due to the fact that we were at sea while the previous ones we were docked.

As we were passing through the hallways, we got glimpses of crew’s cafeteria……. ……..and one of their bars The crew has their own concierge desk:

I wasn’t able to log into Cruise Critic for most of the day yesterday, so I was radio silent. During our Behind the Scenes tour we visited the laundry room. I was impressed with their machines that folded the bed sheets……. ……..and towels:

I ran into @hrhdhd at the Oceanview Cafe. She made me realize that I posted the wrong location for the Chihuly glass sculpture. It is located in the foyer on the starboard side next to the Sky Lounge in Deck 11.

Good morning on this Day 13 of our sailing. It’s warm and sunny out on deck. Seas are smooth, too. We are still two days from our stop at Nassau. The ship’s clock was set back an hour last night and we are now on Nassau time (GMT -4).

We visited the Engine Control Room next. Before we could enter, all 12 of us had to be searched by security. Good idea. Being an engineer in the chemical industry, I was mesmerized by the array of control screens. Much of our time was devoted to power generation, propulsion including the Azipods, and their associated controls. Although there is a data acquisition system that stores much of the process readings (e.g. flow rates, temperature, pressure, etc), and field device states (valve positions, rotational speed, etc), the control room attendant is still required to manually record information onto a paper log: Remote camera monitoring of the ship’s equipment: Although not discussed during them Engine Room talk, the ship has magnetic levitation bearing chillers. The rotating parts are electromagnetically suspended in air which eliminates the need for conventional bearings and oil. I am guessing these chillers are used for climate control: I didn’t get a chance to ask about the purpose of the emergency tools stored behind glass by the control room door:

Next discussion was with the Environmental Officer. She talked about recycling, waste water treatment, and air pollution control. Her discussion occurred at some kind of recreational area for the crew. We didn’t get to see any spaces or equipment associated with her work.

Time for bed. I will post more photos from tour tomorrow, Internet connection permitting.