Constellation - July 3rd cruise

[BoscoBreaux]

I just returned from the July 3rd Baltic itinerary and have a few impressions.

 

Our embarkation was delayed until about 6:30pm, which was a bummer but we were fed (albeit the food offerings were of the pool deck variety) and we were offered a free shuttle to Amsterdam, which helped make the time go by faster.

The delay was to permit the crew extra time to sterilize the ship after a bad outbreak of norovirus on the prior cruise, so I guess it was for the best.

 

I had never cruised on Celebrity before, and heard great things, so I gave it a try. I didn't really discern a difference between it and NCL or RCL, but I have found that the differences between mass-market cruise lines are less obvious now than they may have been 10 years ago, with limited exceptions.

 

My experiences with the crew were uneven. The cruise directed was very entertaining, and lively. His staff, juvenile. The food was very good sometimes, and very bad others. Our room steward and dining staff were great, but the bar staff service was atrocious (with the exception of the bartender at Martini Bar, who was very good). The buffet offerings were very good, but devolved to bad pizza and sandwiches after a certain hour. But the haze of bleach was the worse--wet bleach stained seats and the occasional misting of bleach while you were eating kinda ruined the whole dining experience. The entertainment was good overall, but the singers and dancers were weak compared to other cruises I have been on.

 

I didn't get sick, so in the end all was well with the sanitation issues. Unfortunately, it seemed to affect service and perhaps morale. Having to stand in line several minutes to get a pack of sugar does get annoying after 12 days, and standing behind someone who has to have seven cups of "half decaf, half calf, with two sugars, half hot cream half milk, with a splash of brown sugar" can be time consuming. Perhaps lines could have gone faster if they had two or three persons manning the drink stations instead of (often times) just one person. It must have been a lot of work cleaning every seat ever time someone gets up, and as a consequence the staff was probably very tired and at times let the plates and trays pile up around you. I understand that sometimes they weren't cheerful for good reason--I wouldn't have been either. I understand many persons got spots all over their clothes from the bleach--even heard people in the airport complaining about having all of their clothes ruined on the cruise. I sat down on wet seats too, but I don't think anything got ruined.

 

The most pleasant surprise was rather reasonably priced wine. I didn't detect excessive markup, and the wine selections were very good. In the new "Wine Cellar," they have self-service wine machines, some with $50+ glass offerings. That was great! The only downside to it is of the six times we used it, six problems or false charges resulted. Hopefully they will fix the bugs and train their staff about wine, and what kind of glasses to give out (had to almost beg once to get a glass, and when I did get one, it was given a dainty box-wine-worthy glass.)

[kpalmer]

Bosco,

Thank you for your feedback. We're on the July 27th sailing and although concerned about the norovirus history, more concerned regarding levels of service. I am expecting a step up from Royal Caribbean, as my only experience on RCCL was not great. A few questions for you; were you required to disembark earlier than usual, and did you use any private tour companies in any of the ports?

Kathy

[cynbar]

How were the ports??

[reklawr]

Bosco, I'm sorry Celebrity did not meet your expectations. Thanks for the feedback.

Perhaps the QM2 is more of what you look for in a cruise.

[giraffelt]

We also were on the July 3rd sailing. We have sailed Celebrity many times and were disappointed with this sailing.

 

the menu in the mdr at dinner was not very interesting and the quality of the food was less than we have experienced on previous Celebrity cruises and not just from US ports.

 

Making allowances for the extra-ordinary measures that were taken to prevent illness and its impact on the staff, we found service not to be to Celebrities standards. For the first time ever on a Celebrity ship we encountered staff who were rude. Fortunately only a few but more than 1 or 2. My personal hypothesis is that Celebrity has drawn experienced staff away from older ships to staff the newer ones and the recruitment/training program hasn't kept up.

 

will we cruise Celebrity again? "maybe" but before this cruise the answer would have been a resounding "yes"

[BoscoBreaux]

My personal hypothesis is that Celebrity has drawn experienced staff away from older ships to staff the newer ones and the recruitment/training program hasn't kept up.

 

will we cruise Celebrity again? "maybe" but before this cruise the answer would have been a resounding "yes"

 

I would concur, but I think its the same with every cruise line. When Norwegian launched the Dawn, the new crew was outstanding. But, go over to the Sun, a much older ship, and the crew was lousy. It seems the new ships attract the best employees, with exceptions of course.

[BoscoBreaux]

Bosco,

Thank you for your feedback. We're on the July 27th sailing and although concerned about the norovirus history, more concerned regarding levels of service. I am expecting a step up from Royal Caribbean, as my only experience on RCCL was not great. A few questions for you; were you required to disembark earlier than usual, and did you use any private tour companies in any of the ports?

Kathy

 

We disembarked at 8:45am. We didn't use any private tour companies. I sailed on RCL on Legend of the Seas about 8 years ago, and considered that ship, its food, and crew, to be better than the Constellation. But, that was 8 years ago, which it seemed everyone's food was better.

[kpalmer]

Bosco,

Imagine my surprise when you mentioned Legend of the Seas - as that was the RCCL ship upon which I did not have a great experience. Albeit this was last year. The ship needs to be retired or remodeled. Ever been on Disney? They set the bar extremely high for excellent food, service, and entertainment.

[BoscoBreaux]

Bosco,

Imagine my surprise when you mentioned Legend of the Seas - as that was the RCCL ship upon which I did not have a great experience. Albeit this was last year. The ship needs to be retired or remodeled. Ever been on Disney? They set the bar extremely high for excellent food, service, and entertainment.

 

 

I've never been on Disney, but have heard great things if you can tolerate children. They "remodeled" the Constellation, but I use the term loosely. Many of the areas they altered were the least used (Wine Cellar) and the most oddly configured (staircase leads to the middle of the Tuscan Grill dining room) on the ship. The furnishings were very nice in a W Hotel sort of way. It seems everything goes downhill once a ship ages in general though.

[englishgal]

Bosco,

Thank you for your feedback. We're on the July 27th sailing and although concerned about the norovirus history, more concerned regarding levels of service. I am expecting a step up from Royal Caribbean, as my only experience on RCCL was not great. A few questions for you; were you required to disembark earlier than usual, and did you use any private tour companies in any of the ports?

Kathy

 

Hi Kathy. We are also on the 27th cruise. We have always preferred Celebrity to RCCL, so am sorry to hear these bad reviews. We will just have to see. We are taking our granddaughter for her first cruise and so want her to enjoy it.:confused:

[3wisemen]

This sailing was amateur hour times 10. Poor communications, no warnings about the bleach (there are other non-bleach alternatives) and ruined clothing , worse service, and no apologies, credits or discounts on future trips. We've been on 8 cruises on other lines with much better experiences. I've been in the retail and food and beverage industries for more than 25 years and I can't imagine anyone accepting this poor level of management response to an otherwise legitimate health concern. I can only think that many of the passengers who spent so much money are reluctant to admit that they got a bad value for their money. Not a disaster, but close.

[judyfssw]

We were on the Constellation on the June 9th sailing. This was the second sailing with the Noro. Then, it continued on the sailing after us. The crew has gone above and beyond in trying to eradicate the problem so passengers would not get sick. I'm sure that they tried their best to accomodate the passengers and make sure that things were kept exceptionally clean. If you continually overwork your staff, it would seem to me that workers would be tired and may not show their best. I'm sorry that your cruise suffered some.

I hope that you'll give Celebrity another chance.

[Bet & Peg]

We were also on the July 3rd Cruise and had a fabulous time! But, that being said, I also have to agree with many of Bosco's comments.

 

The only bar where my DH could get a good martini was the Martini Bar - bartender there was fabulous! But it seemed every other bar insisted on putting olives in the glass even when a twist was requested! We did have a long conversation with one of the managers about the lack of ability making martinis. And I do think its because many experienced crew members have been put on the newer ships. One sea day it took us a l-o-n-g time to get drinks (a beer & gin/tonic) by the pool - maybe too many crew were still in "training".

 

Otherwise I don't think we ran into anyone who was rude - I was surprised at how friendly all the room stewards were as you passed them in the halls - they'd been working extra hard and were still pleasant! Our room steward and assistant were fabulous!

 

As far as the new additions to the ship - it was almost sad and/or funny! The Crush Bar was under repair - apparently the ice wasn't working! One evening the Martini Bar was leaking and the staff was mopping up. The wine machines - enomatic?? - we tried one day, my DH thought it a great idea to sample some really good wines. But even the wine steward couldn't get it to work - tried telling us DH's card wan't working but then my wouldn't either, then he admitted they were having porblems with the machine - wound up with a visit to Guest Relations to have the 6 $20 charges removed from our bill!

 

But even with all the hiccups we still had a fabulous cruise - I think service and food on all lines are on a downslide and Celebrity is no different! Maybe we'll have to look into Disney - DH will kill me!!