Constellation - Need some insight!

[akruz]

May I have info on the following:

We will be on the continental deck aprox mid-ship with o/v and chose that due to the pricing. Can upgrades be made after payment and how can that be done?

 

Dining- what is the best choice we were given limited info from TA and not happy accept to say the 1st sitting at 615pm was filled. Better to do the free choice type or the late sitting? How do you book this.

 

What can I bring aboard bottled water at embark and only wine? Someone mentioned you can order hard liquor to be sent to your stateroom......how can this be done?

 

Excursions...... from ship or research somewhere on this site or on different websites.

 

How dressy is formal nights and smart dress nights and when can you wear longer shorts with nice t shirt at buffet? I realize not formals LOL

Limited for luggage with shoes, fancy clothes,etc due to airline policies.

 

I am very new at this and perhaps I should contact Celebrity with these questions as very disappointed in our TA (never again) and who where what do I contact. Email, phone?

 

I would like any info I can get from people who have cruised with constellation.

 

thanks so appreciated?

[akruz]

please somebody must have gone on this ship.

[Project_gal]

May I have info on the following:

We will be on the continental deck aprox mid-ship with o/v and chose that due to the pricing. Can upgrades be made after payment and how can that be done?

 

You can always upgrade if there is availablility and you are willing to pay the difference between what you have originally paid and the current price of the stateroom to which you wish to upgrade. If you are lucky, and there is a price drop, you may be able to upgrade without extra payment. As you booked through a TA, you will have to do this through your TA. You do not say where you are from. Outside the USA, your TA may be less aware of the rules around upgrading.

 

Dining- what is the best choice we were given limited info from TA and not happy accept to say the 1st sitting at 615pm was filled. Better to do the free choice type or the late sitting? How do you book this.

 

Depending on when you are sailing, 1st sitting and Select Dining [anytime dining] may well be full. What ever you choose, you will need to do this through your TA.

 

What can I bring aboard bottled water at embark and only wine? Someone mentioned you can order hard liquor to be sent to your stateroom......how can this be done?

 

You may bring on however much bottled water you want but just two bottles of wine per stateroom. If you want to order a bar set-up, you can do this through the Celebrity website. Go to Shop Celebrity [bottom centre of the Celebrity Home Page in the "small print"].You will need your Celebrity reservation number and then it is straight-forward. The litre bottle of spirit come with 6 sodas [which you will be able to swap for those you want once on board].

 

Excursions...... from ship or research somewhere on this site or on different websites.

 

Your choice! If you are new to cruising, you may be happier booking through the ship. If you have signed up with your Roll Call, you may be able to join up with others to book private tours.

 

How dressy is formal nights and smart dress nights and when can you wear longer shorts with nice t shirt at buffet? I realize not formals LOL

Limited for luggage with shoes, fancy clothes,etc due to airline policies.

 

Without knowing which cruise you are taking, it is difficult to say how dressy formal night will be. Itinerary and time of year can make a difference. Formal dress code does not apply to the buffet area.

 

I am very new at this and perhaps I should contact Celebrity with these questions as very disappointed in our TA (never again) and who where what do I contact. Email, phone?

 

You are probably best asking your questions here!!!! However, if you are more specific about the cruise you are taking, people can help more.

 

I would like any info I can get from people who have cruised with constellation.

 

thanks so appreciated?

 

Hope that is some help.

 

Sue

[fleckle]

please somebody must have gone on this ship.

Yes, many who post here have gone on the Constellation but please have a little patience. It has only been a short time since you first started this thread. I don't know what time zone you are in, but it is late Friday night here in the USA.

 

In the meantime Project_gal has given you some good answers.

If you post your cruise dates and tell us which itinerary you are taking, it would be very helpful as more people will probably be offering suggestions in the morning.

 

Whether it is "better" to do select dining or late seating is only a matter of personal preference.

 

With late seating you are assigned the same table with the same people at the same time every night and always have the same wait staff.

 

Select dining is very similar to eating at a land restaurant where you may either make a reservation or just show up whenever you want. If you show up without a reservation at a busy time, it is possible that you may sometimes need to wait to be seated.

 

The main difference between select dining and eating at a land restaurant is that you may either request a table just for your own party, or ask to be seated at a table with others.

 

Some like doing that as a nice way to meet new people without feeling stuck with the same people night after night. If you meet people you like and you all want to eat together again, of course you can always do that.

 

You may bring on unlimited bottled water, as Project-gal stated, but many find the free tap water on the ship fine to drink. On the Constellation you get a carafe of free drinking water in your cabin that your stateroom attendant refills for you twice daily. Still, there are some passengers who prefer bottled water. So I would suggest at least trying the free water to form your own opinion. You can always pick up more bottled water at the ports if you wish.

 

As for excursions, you can find lots of suggestions and recommendations on the Ports of Call boards for the ports you will be visiting.

If you don't know how to find them, just list the names of all the ports for your itinerary here and someone will provide links to the boards for them tomorrow.

[daydreamer16]

My first Celebrity cruise was on the Constellation in August of 2010. It was 10 days in the Baltic Sea. The cruise was great, we loved the ship and the Celebrity experience! We are booked on the Summit to Bermuda this June! :)

[akruz]

A VERY VERY BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLIES, VERY APPRECIATIVE. tHANKS SO MUCH

I wish to apologize for my lack of patience I did not mean it that way but see how many people use this site and mine seem to drop to no where land in a hour. This is why I reposted. Sorry.

We are from Canada and the cruise we are taking is April 7 to southern Carribean on the Celebrity Constellation. We took the min o/v on the lowest deck continental mid ship. I do get motion sickness quite easy.

Again please accept my apology and without your help I would be sunk as we booked through a TA that is not very informative but we are from small town Saskatchewan and w/o you guys we would be lost. We were not told about dining selections but reading the celebrity book we would qualify as we prepaid our gratituities.

 

thank you

Dar

[Tinkerbellcgy]

A VERY VERY BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLIES, VERY APPRECIATIVE. tHANKS SO MUCH

I wish to apologize for my lack of patience I did not mean it that way but see how many people use this site and mine seem to drop to no where land in a hour. This is why I reposted. Sorry.

We are from Canada and the cruise we are taking is April 7 to southern Carribean on the Celebrity Constellation. We took the min o/v on the lowest deck continental mid ship. I do get motion sickness quite easy.

Again please accept my apology and without your help I would be sunk as we booked through a TA that is not very informative but we are from small town Saskatchewan and w/o you guys we would be lost. We were not told about dining selections but reading the celebrity book we would qualify as we prepaid our gratituities.

 

thank you

Dar

Welcome to CC, Dar. I'm one province over from you - Calgary, Alberta. I am also on the April 7th sailing of the Constellation.

 

While I am not generally prone to motion sickness, I always have a bottle of gravol tucked away in my suitcase. On the rare occassion that I have felt queasy, often sipping a Canada Dry ginger ale usually does the trick rather than taking a gravol.

 

Re: your dining question - I used to always dine at the late seating but on the last cruise I switched over to the early seating and I now much prefer that. I am cruising solo and because of that, I don't want to opt for select dining. Suffice to say that not all cruisers are necessarily accepting of a solo passenger joining them at their table.

 

Excursions: I usually just the do ship's excursions. I have been to all the islands on this cruise with the exception of Antigua. I have selected four islands to do excursions on - Antigua, Grenada, St. Thomas (going over to St. John) and St. Lucia. For the other islands, I will either have a quiet day on the ship or will just meander around window shopping in the port.

 

Formal nights and general attire: When I first started crusing, I always went all out in dressing up to the nines for formal nights. Not any more. For the most part, I dress pretty casual for all dinners but I do dress up my simple black dress with a little bit of glittery jewellery and a nice pashmina. Nothing over-the-top - it's all about comfort for me.

 

Please feel free to ask if you have any more questions or if I can be of assistance to you. :)

 

Edited to Add: Apparently, my advice does not seem to fit into the "very knowledgeable" category so you'd be best to disregard it!

[anniegb]

A VERY VERY BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLIES, VERY APPRECIATIVE. tHANKS SO MUCH

I wish to apologize for my lack of patience I did not mean it that way but see how many people use this site and mine seem to drop to no where land in a hour. This is why I reposted. Sorry.

We are from Canada and the cruise we are taking is April 7 to southern Carribean on the Celebrity Constellation. We took the min o/v on the lowest deck continental mid ship. I do get motion sickness quite easy.

Again please accept my apology and without your help I would be sunk as we booked through a TA that is not very informative but we are from small town Saskatchewan and w/o you guys we would be lost. We were not told about dining selections but reading the celebrity book we would qualify as we prepaid our gratituities.

 

thank you

Dar

 

I am on the same cruise - come along to the roll call and ask away. Our roll call is full of very knowledgeable cruisers who are only too happy to help :)

 

On my 1st Connie cruise, no upgrades were possible as the ship was full.

 

Grace(Snit13) and Steve(Calberry) have organised several activities in which you would be more than welcome.

 

Here is the link to the roll call:

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1384776&page=57

 

Annie

[ghstudio]

Lots of good advice already.

 

As a first time cruiser, you may be more comfortable taking ship excursions. The advantage is that you don't have to worry about missing the ship if your private tour has a problem (very rare, but can happen)...and there are many people on the tour so you will find compatible folks to spend the day with. Downside is that they are large groups...often 40 to a bus and of course you have to wait for all 40 to get back on the bus before they can move on. While ship excursions are a bit more expensive generally then joining a local tour, the extra cost isn't much for a single person.....a family of 3 or 4 might save significantly by booking a local tour.

 

Select Dining really does work. Many who choose select dining prefer to eat with others because it's a way of meeting new people with interesting backgrounds. When you walk up to enter the dining room, they ask if you would like to eat alone or join others...your choice. The only disadvantage is that you may eat with different folks each night and you may have different waiters each night. You have the flexibility to go to dinner at a time so you can make one of the shows at night, if you want, but if you time it wrong, you might miss a show (or go in late)...you have to check the daily schedules. We only book select dining now...we love it.

 

If you want to change your assigned seating time or change to/from select dining, you may be able to do it when you first get on board. Check at guest relations or look at the schedule when you board to find out where to go. It's on an as available basis, but there seem to always be folks who want to move, no matter where they are assigned. In other words, full now, doesn't mean that you won't be able to change to early seating when on the ship....

[akruz]

Tinkerbell, please do not say to disregard your advise. It was great to know someone from Calgary will be on the same cruise as us. Hopefully, we will meet.

 

thank you so much to everyone who helped us alot and you are right I sure heck am getting good advice

 

I want to thank you all for taking the time to assist us Saskatchewanians on our cruise.

 

I have one question, and just need direction. I have both knee replacements, my last one was on Jan 3/12 I know it was a big gamble but i need a gold to work towards and this cruise seemed the answer. For ports, where would I go to find out which are tendered and which are not. Will it be easy for me to do the tenders? I will have to arrange my excursions accordingly, and my friends are willing to assist me and perhaps will be still walking with a cane. I am progressing fairly well as my walker now has Wheels!!!!!!!

 

thanks and it is a celebration for us too being our 40th more incentive.

 

Dar

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I have sailed the Constellation many times. It's a great ship with a wonderful crew.

 

The best advice I can give you is to join your roll call. You will have a chance to meet people in advance of your cruise online and then you can meet them in person on the ship.

 

Also, follow the Celebrity boards. There are great threads with tips about what to bring with you, etc.

 

I'm not generally a fan of ship's excursions; I think you'll do better by hooking up with people on your roll call who have arranged for tours that interest you. Lots of times I don't do a tour at all--just do my research and set out to see what I want to see.

 

Oh, and find yourself a decent travel agent. Get some recommendations from the people on your roll call when you're on the ship. Can't name specific travel agents on these boards. No reason a travel agent should earn a commission for booking your cruise and not provide you with helpful information.

[Tinkerbellcgy]

Tinkerbell, please do not say to disregard your advise. It was great to know someone from Calgary will be on the same cruise as us. Hopefully, we will meet.

 

thank you so much to everyone who helped us alot and you are right I sure heck am getting good advice

 

I want to thank you all for taking the time to assist us Saskatchewanians on our cruise.

 

I have one question, and just need direction. I have both knee replacements, my last one was on Jan 3/12 I know it was a big gamble but i need a gold to work towards and this cruise seemed the answer. For ports, where would I go to find out which are tendered and which are not. Will it be easy for me to do the tenders? I will have to arrange my excursions accordingly, and my friends are willing to assist me and perhaps will be still walking with a cane. I am progressing fairly well as my walker now has Wheels!!!!!!!

 

thanks and it is a celebration for us too being our 40th more incentive.

 

Dar

 

Dar, congrats on your successful knee replacements.

 

I don't believe that we will be tendering in any of the ports. Were you told that we would be tendering?

 

For my own personal information, I have done up a schedule of who is in port with us at each port and, with the exception of Ft. Lauderdale, it ranges from only the Constellation to a maximum of two other ships in each port. You could have your TA confirm with Celebrity that we will not be tendering in any of the ports.

 

As far as tendering goes if we were to be tendered, it is usually quite an easy process and there are ship personnel to aid and assist you into the tender boat. You just need to advise them that you have mobility issues and they will be most obliging.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

 

I have one question, and just need direction. I have both knee replacements, my last one was on Jan 3/12 I know it was a big gamble but i need a gold to work towards and this cruise seemed the answer. For ports, where would I go to find out which are tendered and which are not. Will it be easy for me to do the tenders? I will have to arrange my excursions accordingly, and my friends are willing to assist me and perhaps will be still walking with a cane. I am progressing fairly well as my walker now has Wheels!!!!!!!

 

thanks and it is a celebration for us too being our 40th more incentive.

 

Dar

 

If you're doing the 14-day exotic southern Caribbean, there are no tender ports on that cruise. You can find out exactly what you will be doing by going to My Celebrity, adding your cruise manually if it already doesn't show up, and then printing out the itinerary, which will specify whether the ship is docked or tendered and the times the ship will arrive and leave the port.

[fleckle]

A VERY VERY BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLIES, VERY APPRECIATIVE. tHANKS SO MUCH

I wish to apologize for my lack of patience I did not mean it that way but see how many people use this site and mine seem to drop to no where land in a hour. This is why I reposted. Sorry.

We are from Canada and the cruise we are taking is April 7 to southern Carribean on the Celebrity Constellation. We took the min o/v on the lowest deck continental mid ship. I do get motion sickness quite easy.

Again please accept my apology and without your help I would be sunk as we booked through a TA that is not very informative but we are from small town Saskatchewan and w/o you guys we would be lost. We were not told about dining selections but reading the celebrity book we would qualify as we prepaid our gratituities.

 

thank you

Dar

No apology is necessary. My intent was never to criticize you but rather to reassure you that people would answer if you gave them more time.

 

From the itinerary for your April 7 cruise, here are links to the forums where Cruise Critic members discuss what to see and do at each of the ports you will be visiting.

 

Aruba

 

Curacao

 

Grenada

 

Barbados

 

St. Lucia

 

Antigua

 

St. Maarten

 

St. Thomas/St. John

 

As for your concern about seasickness, once you get down into the Caribbean the waters should be calm so it should not be a problem at all. However, it is possible that you may encounter some turbulence the first and last 2 sea days while traveling down from Ft. Lauderdale and returning.

 

When you first board the ship, if you go to Guest Relations on deck 3 (in center of ship) and ask for meclizine, they will give you some free of charge.

 

You have chosen a wonderful itinerary on a great ship!

[akruz]

Thank you all what a great bunch on this CC. Wow, this site is certainly a life saver for all.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thank you all what a great bunch on this CC. Wow, this site is certainly a life saver for all.

 

That's what we're here for. We've all learned a lot from people who have shared their experience on these boards. It's nice to be able to help others have a great cruise.

 

Now go get hooked up with your roll call folks and then you'll REALLY love Cruise Critic!

 

Have a great cruise!

[Waihekean]

Hello Akruz,

 

For info from people that have sailed "the Connie" you can go to the top bar of the main page and go to Cruise reviews and click on cruise reviews, then choose the ship. From there you get a general review from Cruise Critic and new reviews from members.

 

They are a fun way to get to know the ship, you can also look up comments about your cabin.

[daydreamer16]

Congrats on your knee replacements! I would caution you to ask a lot of questions when you book your excursions. Last year in St lucia we took a private tour and I asked a lot of questions since I had some mobility issues. The first part of the tour was by bus and that went well. The return to the ship was by boat----well it was low tide and we had to climb down several feet off the dock. I ended up with a sprained ankle on my good leg! It was also difficult to get off the boat when we returned to the ship. I had told the tour operator about my issues and he assured me it was no problem. I had hip replacement in December and I'm working up to a cruise in June! Have a great time --you deserve it!

[Ineke]

Just a note of interest: We were on the Constellation Dec. 31 to Jan. 14, same itinerary, and we tendered in St. Thomas. But it should be no problem, lots of assistance available. Enjoy!