Gaynors

Another reason to cruise princess.. love the self service laundry room on each deck 😁. I'll definitely be spending some time there. I'm only a lowly platinum member on princess no freebies for me yet. I do enjoy the free laundry on celebrity better though... since they do it for me!

I'm working on breaking up that stereotype that only seniors and the infirm don't want to fly are interested in 30+ day cruises. I'm in my early 50s and in good health. Just the 9 hr flight back to ATL from Barcelona wasn't fun, doing 15+ hours on a plane... yuck!!! More cruising ... less time on an airplane... sounds like a win win to me.

I've booked this as well for next April. I love the idea of going RT from California. I definitely would have wished Celebrity would offer something similar. I've sailed on both Princess and Celebrity numerous times and didn't hesitate to book Princess.

I'm not sure but I think the difference was that OBC given by Celebrity showed up before boarding... OBC given by my travel agent didn't show up until after boarding. However, just to add another twist, I didn't use the same travel agency for both cruises. We were able to book excursions onboard with no problem. We actually booked them the afternoon we boarded. The ones we wanted were not sold out. This was on a Caribbean cruise where there were lots of options offered. I noticed on our Transatlantic that the ship did not offer as many options as I had hoped. Probably because the celebrity ships do not stop at these ports every week like they do in the Caribbean.

We were lucky and all of our OBC showed up in the cruise planner before our sailing. We were able to take advantage of any pre-cruise sales on excursions and were able to book everything we wanted, even specialty dining. However, on a previous cruise I was in the same situation as you and had to wait to book onboard if I wanted to use OBC.

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, it's hard to believe it'll be a year ago this weekend. A year ago when we booked the transatlantic we were so excited as we were finally starting to get to do the longer travel that we had always wanted and cruising was definitely part of that. This was my first cruise since his passing and it was hard at times but it's something I love and will continue to do. I loved the itinerary and the lots of sea days. I had been to Europe before but many many years ago but by plane and not these ports. I loved the ports and hopefully will get to visit them again someday as there were many things we didn't get to see with only having one day. I would definitely be more willing to explore on my own and maybe not take any or as many formal excursions. I will definitely be looking at doing more TAs. That being said, I had been eyeballing a 32 night Princess cruise to Hawaii and the South Pacific for sometime but it just wasn't in my budget yet (still have one kid in college). However, after I came back from the TA and started looking at cruises again I noticed that the cruise I was interested in was included in Princess's promotion 60 cruises for under $60 per day. So one of my best friends and I booked! I've been and cruised Hawaii before but never, Tahiti, Fiji and Samoa! So excited and it has even more sea days but first time crossing the equator and the international date line.

Long time cruiser that has always wanted and looked forward to doing a transatlantic (TA) but with kids at home and in school the spring/fall sailings never worked for us. Fast forward to 2022.. both kids away at college so good opportunity to finally get to go on that first TA. However, with two kids in college we needed to find a deal to fit our budget. Even at a year out we found several deals on TA’s on various lines. There was one on Royal Caribbean that really piqued our interest. However, upon further investigation I finally realized that the timing didn’t work for us, DS was going to graduate from college first weekend in May 2023. Well, that narrowed the choices a whole lot. We came upon the Celebrity Constellation April 17-May 2, 2023, Tampa to Barcelona and it fit all our criteria. I had been on the Constellation twice before and love the M class ships. When booking anything a year out…. things happen. I lost DH suddenly on Memorial Day 2022. I was still determined to go on this cruise and was able to change the booking (my SIL was able to join me). Having a great travel agent, we ended up with lots of OBC. I booked my air very early through flights by celebrity and was very happy. Being in Atlanta, Delta was my best choice since they were the only airline flying non-stop from Barcelona to Atlanta. Flights by Celebrity added my FF# to my booking and I was able to pick my seats at the time of booking. At one point over the 10 months Delta changed the flight (and type of plane) and I lost my seat but since I was notified of the change, I was able to go back in and get the same seat. I know a lot of people have had complaints about flights by celebrity, but I had a great experience. Due to being on a budget, I booked an inside room, but the room included the all-inclusive package. Since we had lots of OBC and didn’t need it for tips or drinks we booked shore excursions through the ship (I usually book independent excursions). I was also able to take advantage of the December 2022 cyber sale fluke and upgrade our basic wifi to premium for the entire 15 night cruise for only $20 total for both of us.. best spent OBC ever. That same cyber sale also got us some great prices the on the excursions we had already booked. Just canceled and rebooked at the much lower rate. The ship stopped at Bermuda, Madeira, Cadiz, and Malaga. Both of us have been to Bermuda before so didn’t take a shore excursion there. Lot of time to plan with booking a year out. Thanks to our amazing roll call group for helping out a TA newbie. Got an email regarding Celebrity Move Up in early February. Doing my homework, it looked like there were still lots of available rooms, especially in the category I was looking for which was just a standard balcony. I decided to bid the minimum. About 3 weeks from sailing I got confirmation my bid was accepted! Yeah! We upgraded from a Cat 9 inside to a Cat 2B balcony – mid ship deck 6! Fast forward one year.. it’s finally time to go! I flew in a few days before and stayed with family. Arrival and check-in at the Terminal in Tampa couldn’t have been easier. From the time we were dropped off until we were on the ship was less than fifteen minutes. We arrived at about 11:30 am. The ship had under 1200 guests for our 15-night sailing. It was wonderful! We were definitely some of the younger people (we are both in our early 50s) on the sailing (even though we did have 5 kids onboard). There was plenty of activities scheduled if you wanted to participate. Our cruise director was Sue Denning, and she was great. We did participate in many of the activities which were run by the activities staff Ozzy and David who did an amazing job. Thank you to DJ Odyssey for my our private silent disco party one night in the Reflections lounge. A few other people were there but none chose to join me dancing! 😂 I brought several books to read knowing we were going to have 10 sea days and didn’t even finish the first book! Our favorite time of day was between 4:30 -7 when the pool deck would be empty (most passengers were eating or getting ready) and we had the hot tubs and the bartenders all to ourselves. It was just amazing. Since our dining wasn't until 8:15 we still had plenty of time before dinner. We had late seating for dining and Mario was our waiter. Late seating was a ghost town, maybe at most there were 100 people in the whole upstairs dining area. Most nights it was more like 50. Mario had only two tables of two so we had AMAZING service. Our table was also up again the big glass windows overlooking the wake, and the sunset on our eastbound TA! Even though the ship is older it is well cared for and the crew is top notch. I wouldn’t hesitate to sail on the Constellation again, even though she didn’t get the total redo her sisters the Summit and Millennium got (I have sailed on the Summit post revolutionized) she is still a great ship. Getting off the ship in Barcelona was just as easy as it was to board in Tampa. Ports: Bermuda – we did on our own. We were there in mid-April so the ocean was a little too cool for us so we chose not to do a beach day, even though I love the Bermuda beaches. We took the public bus and walked the railway trail. We told the bus driver we wanted to hike the trail and he dropped us off right at the start. We took the trail all the way to whale bay area and walked to the whale bay beach. After visiting the beach, we walked back up to the main road and took the bus back to the dock yard. If you are in Bermuda in the offseason and have seen the other sites and enjoy a nice walk, I would recommend the railway trail. Funchal, Madeira – We took a Celebrity excursion, small group 4X4 island adventure. We only saw a small portion of the island but the tour was good. After the tour we chose to be dropped off in town rather than at the ship. We had a brief time to explore Funchal. What a beautiful city and island (at least the part we saw). I would definitely like to go back. Celebrity offered a free shuttle from the port to the city but it wasn’t far and we chose to walk back to the ship. Cadiz, Spain - We took a celebrity tour to the Bombadillo winery. This tour was on a large bus and we traveled about 30 minutes from Cadiz to get to the winery. On the way to the winery we were given a short tour around old town Cadiz where most of the major sights were pointed out. Upon return from the tour we had the afternoon to explore old town Cadiz on our own, which is where is the ship was docked. Malaga, Spain - We took a celebrity tour to Marabella and Puerto Banus. This tour was also on a large tour bus we had a short time in each location to explore on your own. Upon return to Malaga we were not offered the opportunity to be let off in town but were returned to the ship. Celebrity was offering a free shuttle bus to and from downtown. We took the shuttle bus into town but chose to walk back to the ship after exploring on our own. Barcelona – We chose to do a half day tour of Barcelona with Barcelona day tours. They picked us up at the ship took us to see the sights then dropped us and our luggage off at our hotel. It was an amazing trip and I hope just the first of many more TA’s. For anyone thinking about taking your first transatlantic I hope this helps! I know I enjoyed reading about everyone else's travels when I was preparing.

Currently on the constellation and we have the buffet but all beverage service is from the waitstaff. Buffet is fruit, cold meats, and pastries. It is being held in Qsine on deck 3, which is kind of odd location on the Connie. Deck 3 aft... not mid ship. Would be nice if it was held in Tuscan on Deck 11. Service has been excellent and it isn't crowded, even on a transatlantic with lots of elite and above.

Hoping better conditions for you ahead! A beautiful evening..7 pm.. on the Connie

Update from the Connie on premium... poolside almost 2 pm...speeds have been very consistent all the way across the Atlantic.

Wow...we didn't have anything like that on the Connie on the southern route. Weather and seas have been wonderful the last few days. Here's the current info as we are off Africa heading towards Cadiz.

Update from Connie...we will be in Madeira tomorrow... internet speeds have been consistent all the way across.. weather does not seem to have been a factor.

Update from the Connie..we are 3 days east of Bermuda, in the middle of the Atlantic. Wind is from the west so condition on top decks are great, not windy at all. We are also riding with the swells so the barf bags that were in the stairwells have been put away and the outdoor pool is open again.

Connie update here ..11am.. sunset bar...we are now 4 hrs ahead of EST. Speeds have been consistent

Wishing you smooth sailing! Weather today on the Connie is beautiful...low 60s and mostly sunny...but we are rolling around a bit

I am no tech expert...and am using an Android phone but when I do speed test by ookla using the website not app this is what I get...in cellar masters on Connie... middle of the Atlantic

Solarium... Connie. 1st sea day after leaving Bermuda

I'll try to post our speeds on the Connie over the next 5 days as we leave Bermuda and head to Madeira.

On constellation TA... this is today from Bermuda with premium

It was already all set up... nothing special to do... just set up account and it was good to go. We are still right off the keys so internet speeds are still pretty good... we'll see what it is when we leave Bermuda.

For those that booked the cyber sale deal on the premium internet upgrade... just wanted to report that it worked! I'm on the constellation TA now enjoying my premium internet 👍. Fifteen days for $20 (for 2), thank you cruise critic, if wasn't for reading about the deal on here I wouldn't have known it.

Totally agree... that's our preference too, much more reasonable and an easy drive on embarkation day. We usually do the straight shot home which hopefully gets us back to Atlanta after the horrible traffic on the Southside has let up some.

Having done that trip many many times..under 9 hours is amazing and not the norm. More likely 10-11 hours....at least.

Thanks for doing another live review! I do enjoy following along.. however... this time I won't get to follow quite as much since on Monday (17th) I'll be boarding the Constellation for her eastbound TA! First TA for me, something I've looked forward to for a long time.

Thank you for your very detailed review! Since I'm boarding her in just 16 days (who's counting..😂) it's great to hear you had great service and a great trip!