Constellation – November 24-29 - Outstanding Cruise - Wish We Were Staying on Longer

[BSinPNS]

That is something I say after every cruise, but this one was really too short particularly since the crew and ship were superb. We knew it was going to be short five days with stops in Cozumel and Key West and two fun sea days, but were envious of those doing a back-to-back.

 

Captain Tasos Kafetzis has been onboard for almost a month and you could feel his warmth and energy extending to all crewmembers with whom we interacted. The master was visible and approachable in various locations around the ship and seemed to enjoy interacting with the guests. He gave an outstanding presentation on the building of the first two Solstice class ships and his announcements were always tinged with humor.

 

Rich Clessen was the CD and his experience was obvious. He had the excellent string trip, Gran Volta, performing in the theatre for the 30 minutes prior to the production show on formal night which was lots more entertaining than watching the spiraling lights or tired PowerPoint display. The production crew was excellent with equally talented singers. It was nice to watch what I think is an updated version of the long running Land of Make Believe show. White Magic with Michael White and his fiancé, a contortionist from Mongolia, put on an excellent show as did an Elton John impersonator Joel Mason. We noticed that the casino was much busier on this short cruise than on longer Caribbean sailings.

 

We were fortunate to be in one of the new aft-facing AQ rooms - 1130. As reported it is in an excellent location overlooking the stern with no noise heard from below unless you were on the large balcony. Although we prefer the Solstice class ships for all their activities, we thoroughly enjoyed the smaller Blu venue on this class ship. If you eat breakfast in Blu, don't miss Mentor's muesli artistry.

 

Embarkation. As we departed on a Monday, it was very smooth since Connie was berthed at Port Everglades terminal 18 which is used by Oasis/Allure on the weekends. Very nice and spacious (as expected). Even though the ship had to undergo a USCG inspection, boarding started at 11:45; rooms were available at 1PM.

 

Disembarkation/Immigration(again)/Customs. Arriving on Saturday, we were at terminal 25/26 which was fine. It is a long walk (in a covered walkway) from the midship exit on deck one to the terminal. Since it was a five day cruise there were lots of early walk-offs – probably 50% of the passengers. Once again we had to clear immigration and customs which wasn’t too bad with three agents. (Not sure why we had to clear immigration again as we had done it the previous morning in Key West.) Luggage was arranged by deck since it was a short cruise. This terminal works much better for Connie that it did the past two years when we disembarked from Eclipse after a 14 day cruise.

 

Could you find something to complain about - sure, but none caused us concern. We did encounter some higher seas which caused some passengers discomfort and the ship made some noises. There were some railings that needed varnishing, the room air conditioning had a hard time handling the direct sun, etc.

 

Ports:

Cozumel - We did the Tulum Ruins ship tour (CZ02). You spend about two hours at the ruins and 4.5 hours getting there and back - a local ferry (nice) for an hour ride followed by an hour bus ride repeated on the return. The ride from the parking lot to the ruins and the taxi ride from downtown Cozumel back to the ship are not included. The ruins were impressive, just be prepared for a lot of windshield/nap time getting there and back.

 

Key West - We did the Old Town Trolley tour which was very good, but chilly on a brisk 65F morning with a strong breeze. (Remember to take a light jacket.) We walked around town and spent the afternoon enjoying the ship (and packing). Before disembarking in Key West, we had to present our passports to immigration after which we had a hole punched in our sea pass card. US citizens cleared in the Rendezvous Lounge on deck four. The line stretched from the lounge entrance to the theatre and back to the lounge but it moved very quickly with three agents. Non-US citizens were cleared in the conference rooms on deck three.

 

Master Tasos Kafetzis

Staff Captain Christos Trifyllis

Chief Engineer Emmanouil Archontakis

GRM Christian Bell

Hotel Director Daniel Simon

Cruise Director Rich Clessen

F&B DIrector Bernard Mazet

Executive Chef Yasna Arriagada

Captain's Club Host Graeme Kelleher

Gran Volta String Trio - Really excellent performers

Supastition - House band

Roberta Amaral - Guitar/Vocalist

Alessio - DJ

 

Feel free to ask questions.

[chicagopaul]

Glad you had a great time. We did this cruise back in February. Captain Tasos is amazing! He was on the Connie back then too. I believe we had a 3 month break, switched ships and now glad to hear he is back on the Connie. He is the best captain we've ever encountered.

[Orator]

That is something I say after every cruise, but this one was really too short particularly since the crew and ship were superb. We knew it was going to be short five days with stops in Cozumel and Key West and two fun sea days, but were envious of those doing a back-to-back.

 

Captain Tasos Kafetzis has been onboard for almost a month and you could feel his warmth and energy extending to all crewmembers with whom we interacted. The master was visible and approachable in various locations around the ship and seemed to enjoy interacting with the guests. He gave an outstanding presentation on the building of the first two Solstice class ships and his announcements were always tinged with humor.

 

Rich Clessen was the CD and his experience was obvious. He had the excellent string trip, Gran Volta, performing in the theatre for the 30 minutes prior to the production show on formal night which was lots more entertaining than watching the spiraling lights or tired PowerPoint display. The production crew was excellent with equally talented singers. It was nice to watch what I think is an updated version of the long running Land of Make Believe show. White Magic with Michael White and his fiancé, a contortionist from Mongolia, put on an excellent show as did an Elton John impersonator Joel Mason. We noticed that the casino was much busier on this short cruise than on longer Caribbean sailings.

 

We were fortunate to be in one of the new aft-facing AQ rooms - 1130. As reported it is in an excellent location overlooking the stern with no noise heard from below unless you were on the large balcony. Although we prefer the Solstice class ships for all their activities, we thoroughly enjoyed the smaller Blu venue on this class ship. If you eat breakfast in Blu, don't miss Mentor's muesli artistry.

 

Embarkation. As we departed on a Monday, it was very smooth since Connie was berthed at Port Everglades terminal 18 which is used by Oasis/Allure on the weekends. Very nice and spacious (as expected). Even though the ship had to undergo a USCG inspection, boarding started at 11:45; rooms were available at 1PM.

 

Disembarkation/Immigration(again)/Customs. Arriving on Saturday, we were at terminal 25/26 which was fine. It is a long walk (in a covered walkway) from the midship exit on deck one to the terminal. Since it was a five day cruise there were lots of early walk-offs – probably 50% of the passengers. Once again we had to clear immigration and customs which wasn’t too bad with three agents. (Not sure why we had to clear immigration again as we had done it the previous morning in Key West.) Luggage was arranged by deck since it was a short cruise. This terminal works much better for Connie that it did the past two years when we disembarked from Eclipse after a 14 day cruise.

 

Could you find something to complain about - sure, but none caused us concern. We did encounter some higher seas which caused some passengers discomfort and the ship made some noises. There were some railings that needed varnishing, the room air conditioning had a hard time handling the direct sun, etc.

 

Ports:

Cozumel - We did the Tulum Ruins ship tour (CZ02). You spend about two hours at the ruins and 4.5 hours getting there and back - a local ferry (nice) for an hour ride followed by an hour bus ride repeated on the return. The ride from the parking lot to the ruins and the taxi ride from downtown Cozumel back to the ship are not included. The ruins were impressive, just be prepared for a lot of windshield/nap time getting there and back.

 

Key West - We did the Old Town Trolley tour which was very good, but chilly on a brisk 65F morning with a strong breeze. (Remember to take a light jacket.) We walked around town and spent the afternoon enjoying the ship (and packing). Before disembarking in Key West, we had to present our passports to immigration after which we had a hole punched in our sea pass card. US citizens cleared in the Rendezvous Lounge on deck four. The line stretched from the lounge entrance to the theatre and back to the lounge but it moved very quickly with three agents. Non-US citizens were cleared in the conference rooms on deck three.

 

Master Tasos Kafetzis

Staff Captain Christos Trifyllis

Chief Engineer Emmanouil Archontakis

GRM Christian Bell

Hotel Director Daniel Simon

Cruise Director Rich Clessen

F&B DIrector Bernard Mazet

Executive Chef Yasna Arriagada

Captain's Club Host Graeme Kelleher

Gran Volta String Trio - Really excellent performers

Supastition - House band

Roberta Amaral - Guitar/Vocalist

Alessio - DJ

 

Feel free to ask questions.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I'll be returning to her on Dec.8th. The crew is really wonderful.

Capt. Tasos really does enjoy his job and Staff Captain Christos will make an excellent Captain. Daniel Simon will be leaving soon for Silhouette and Rich Clessen is as genuine as it gets.now I'm excited to get back on Connie. Thanks for your report.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[DaKa2002]

We, too, loved the Connie and crew on our recent Norway cruise. Captain Tasos is the best we have encountered during all our sailings! His presentation on the building of the Solstice class ships was fantastic.

Thanks for the review.

[bebe08]

We were on the same cruise, and same deck (cabin 1111) and agree with all your comments. This was our second Celebrity cruise - first one was on Silhouette - so we were expecting the Connie to not be quite as impressive. However, we found her to be just as lovely and had a wonderful cruise :)

[happy 2 b cruising]

We were on the same cruise, and same deck (cabin 1111) and agree with all your comments. This was our second Celebrity cruise - first one was on Silhouette - so we were expecting the Connie to not be quite as impressive. However, we found her to be just as lovely and had a wonderful cruise :)

 

We definitely agree with all the positives, great crew, food etc. We had booked this cruise nine months ago and had our four cabins linked for early dinning to be seated next to each other. We go to the MDR on the first night of the cruise to find out six of the family were on level four and the remaining six were on level 5. Not a good way to start a Family Thanksgiving Holiday especially when family flew in from all over the country to be able to enjoy dinners together. Eventually after meeting with the head of the MDR the next day we were all moved to the same floor but not at adjoining tables. Thought this was worth mentioning if you intend to travel with a large family during the holidays and you would like to sit together during dinner.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for this review. We have the cabin next to yours booked for the Greek Isles cruise in 2016. We initially had 1130 but saw a thread here that suggested 1138 is better (and 1140 better yet). Do you have an opinion on that? [The complaint was that 1130 has a smaller balcony, no privacy from below, and may be exposed to corridor noise on the side.]

[Caribbean Chris]

Really appreciate this review, as we'll be embarking in less than two weeks. We sailed once before with Rich as CD and thought he was far superior to most. Looking forward to it!

[hcat]

Thanks for posting this review...very positive.

 

We will be on the 5 day Connie in Jan, but depart on a Sat and stop first at Key West.

Looks like we won't have to clear customs twice.. We won't get the nicer terminal for embarkation but maybe when we return on a Thurs,??? Makes sense that many will walk off on a short cruise. We did that recently on the 7 day Reflection and will do so again.

 

How was the music on board?

 

can't wait!

[BSinPNS]

1130 has an extended balcony, but not as extended as 1138 or 1140. While 1130 is next to the stairway, we did not hear any traffic or door opening/closing and it was very windy which caused doors to slam. We had no privacy concerns as you have to be at the balcony rail to see down (or for someone to see you). 38 and 40 are over the canvas of the Oceanview Bar so there is more privacy and the balcony is larger. Absolutely no noise with the sliding glass door closed. There is little traffic on deck 11 since there are only 40 or so cabins. We did see some lost people on the first day or two who thought they were at the front of the ship. I would suggest keeping one or two of the curtains closed when you are out of the room if the sun is bright. We really noticed as we headed East with the sun in the West. The aft exposure really heats up the cabin. Very easy to cool it down though - just open the balcony door and cabin door at the same time and you can exchange all the warm air for cool hallway air in 20 seconds or less. We have 1140 booked for B2B South America in March. Have a great cruise.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1130 has an extended balcony, but not as extended as 1138 or 1140. While 1130 is next to the stairway, we did not hear any traffic or door opening/closing and it was very windy which caused doors to slam. We had no privacy concerns as you have to be at the balcony rail to see down (or for someone to see you). 38 and 40 are over the canvas of the Oceanview Bar so there is more privacy and the balcony is larger. Absolutely no noise with the sliding glass door closed. There is little traffic on deck 11 since there are only 40 or so cabins. We did see some lost people on the first day or two who thought they were at the front of the ship. That would be me! I would suggest keeping one or two of the curtains closed when you are out of the room if the sun is bright. We really noticed as we headed East with the sun in the West. The aft exposure really heats up the cabin. Very easy to cool it down though - just open the balcony door and cabin door at the same time and you can exchange all the warm air for cool hallway air in 20 seconds or less. And half your luggage too! We have 1140 booked for B2B South America in March. Have a great cruise.

 

Thanks for the quick response. See notes in red above;) We were able to change from 1130 to 1138, but I'm glad that it wouldn't have been a disaster if we couldn't.

[san diego spartan]

Thanks for the information and review. We will be on the Connie on December 8th can't wait.

any thoughts on the food beverage packages entertainment etc?

[BSinPNS]

The service in Blu was excellent. The menu has not changed in a while, but the food was prepared well and served quickly even on the first evening. It seemed that lots of folks had the beverage package and the servers were doing quite well keeping up with the demand. The martini bar was the place to be. The entertainment was the best that we have seen on X. I believe White Magic is travelling with the ship so they should be on board. Gran Volta string trio was excellent with a wide repertoire of music. Have a great time.

[teltrainer]

Given these two terminals are not next to each other, should we drop off luggage at 18 and park car by terminal 25 for the disembarking?

 

We have a Monday departure from 18 but I assume a Saturday return bumps us to 25 since Oasis will be docked at 18.

 

Any suggestions?

[hcat]

Hmm that's a good question...maybe we should line up with our return terminal?

 

Have never parked at the port before so we have no idea about parking strategies. Have check the port bd and port website...but any tips here will be appreciated.

Edited December 5, 2014 by hcat

[BSinPNS]

I would suggest dropping the luggage at 18 and perhaps leaving your spouse(s) there with any carry on and driving to the parking deck for 25/26. I believe that is what they were doing to those wanting to park in the port when we departed. People were saying they lot at 18 was closed and there was a shuttle bus running between the parking deck and 18. Some were upset as there was no explanation. Have a great trip.