Photo Review: Solo Cruise for 30th birthday on Celebrity Constellation 12-13-14

[alainamarie]

Hey y'all! This is my first review that I am posting on Cruise Critic since I am pretty new to this website. I joined in May when I started to research my cruise vacation for my 30th birthday. I hope I do not bore you with too many details, but I tried to create a 'review' similar to those that I enjoy reading on here. :D I will throw some pictures in here and there, but do not expect tons of pictures of food. I like to enjoy my vacation and not worry about picking up the camera too much. If you have any positive feedback, feel free to reply. This is my humble opinion, so I hope this does not come off as complaint heavy because that is certainly not my intention.

 

Sit back and relax and enjoy my very LONG review! :)

[alainamarie]

Background

I couldn’t decide how exactly I wanted to ring in my 30th birthday. I deliberated between Bora Bora, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. I realized those adventures wouldn’t be quite the same solo. My only solution to avoid facing a resort completely alone was to opt for a cruise. I started a mad hunt for a cruise to encompass a few islands I have never traveled to before. I enlisted the help of a travel agent who soon realized he was taking on a Type A Over-Planner.

I have cruised 4 times, all on Carnival. It was easy to decide when I wanted to sail – my 30th birthday was on 12/12, so I wanted to leave that weekend. I first chose the Carnival Freedom leaving FLL on 12/13/14 on an 8 night cruise. My TA encouraged me to look outside of Carnival and try something new for my landmark birthday. St. Barts attracted me to this 9 night itinerary on 12/13/14 out of FLL on Celebrity Cruise Lines. I must say, the ‘Modern Luxury’ tagline hooked me and drew me in to learn more. That’s when I discovered Cruise Critic in all of its glory. I quickly began to devour all of the information on the cruise line, cabin options, port excursion ideas, island information, dining options, pre cruise hotels, and the list continues. I was fortunate enough to join in the roll call and somehow became the organizer of our roll call and even begin a cabin crawl.

Please note that all of my past cruise experience is with Carnival, so my comparison is focused between Celebrity and Carnival. I started cruising a year after college graduation, so I have been cruising for a total of 7 years.

[alainamarie]

This is me getting dropped off at the airport. My aunt was stunned at my 100 pounds + of luggage. Have I mentioned that I am also an over packer? Hmm you thought I was just an over planner!

 

 

 

Pre-Cruise Hotel

Thanks to a somewhat active roll call, I ended up booking a room at the Marriott Springhill Suites. I was originally booked at the Hilton Marina, but booked with Springhill Suites because they provide airport and port transportation. I also saved around $50 on the room by doing so. I would love to say that things went smoothly; however, the main glitch was the airport transportation. I should have called a taxi when I realized this was going to be a problem, but I invested so much of my time in waiting for the hotel shuttle, I decided to wait it out. I called the hotel front desk immediately when I had my bags. I confirmed where to stand and I waited…. And waited…. And waited… I called back 15 minutes later, front desk (Paige) advised me that the bus should be there shortly and I am standing in the correct place. I called her back 10 minutes later, still no bus. Finally at 12:55a she said the bus made its last pick up and I was not on it. Apparently the driver was also looking out for me standing alone. She sent the driver back to the airport against his will because he already completed his last pickup. Somehow I was supposed to assume that I should be looking for a ‘KSA TOURS’ bus. Seriously?! How in the heck would I know to look for a tour bus and not a Marriot Springhill Suites bus????!!!???? And when the driver arrived, he had a HORRIBLE attitude with me saying ‘this is not my fault’ and my response is ‘I sure as heck hope you don’t think this is my fault!’. We had a verrrry silent trip to the hotel. Paige at the front desk was so apologetic. She was very helpful and I felt like she really did try to help me, she just happened to miss a huge detail to help me find the bus.

I was in the very last room down the hall. Unimpressive, but I didn’t care at 1:30am. I had a mediocre breakfast in the morning and a hot shower. I wish I had savored this hot shower because it would be my last for the next week. Bed was comfortable and all of the rooms are suites - you have a sofa and a desk area right when you walk in. This was more than enough space for one person, so 2 people would be very comfortable here.

I did not take the hotel shuttle to the port because I took a taxi ride with Peggy & Frank after they returned their rental. The hotel was hopping with cruisers and we were happy to avoid the chaos. We returned their car to Enterprise and the taxi van picked us up from there. I want to say the cab fare was a little over $20 from the car rental to the cruise terminal. Our cab driver did make a wrong turn and we ended up in the Princess terminal. There is a LOT of road construction, so this is something to consider.

 

Overall, nice hotel that is in a perfect location to the airport, cruise terminal, and many restaurants/shopping, etc. I only needed a place to sleep and shower, so I would definitely book here again.

[alainamarie]

Embarkation & Day One

 

My view when pulling up to the terminal -

 

 

Having only sailed with Carnival, I dreaded this process. I remember all of the hurry and wait, hurry and wait. This process with Celebrity was absolutely flawless. The line for the suites moved at the same pace as my line. I was on deck 7 and had not received any kind of boarding time or email notification I’ve been reading about. We were dropped off around 1:30 and it took approximately 15 minutes to go through the entire boarding process and onto the ship. I spent more time being stunned than I did waiting in line. You can grab a glass of champagne right when you enter the ship – nice touch. I found this day was the day of the friendliest faces, so I should have enjoyed the smiles more.

They had just announced that rooms were ready, so I went straight up to my room. I was able to put my backpack down and film a quick video of my cabin and take some pictures to upload to my social media page. I made a few phone calls to notify friends and family of my safe arrival.

My phone rang and it was Kelly who was settling into her cabin. I went over to her cabin with my champagne. She had a beautiful aqua class balcony that was on the 11th deck all the way aft. She and I decided to head to the Oceanview Café for a buffet lunch before muster drill. It wasn’t as crazy as expected, but we just wanted a quick meal to hold us over until dinner.

 

After a painless muster drill in the Celebrity Theatre, I headed straight to the Sunset Bar for the sail away party. It was really nice meeting a few of the people I’ve been chatting with for many months. I was able to enjoy a couple of drinks before heading to the room to freshen up before the show and dinner. I do like the way the shows flow around dinner times, my show time was 7p and dinner for 8:30.

 

This is a picture of the theater stage... I liked to sit center, but every seat really was a good seat.

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures from my iphone just around the guest relations 3rd deck area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mrs_Tiki]

Alainamarie,

 

Thanks so much for taking time to do a review. I will be on the Connie in Early February and am very interested in all you have to share.

 

Can you tell more about your friend Kelly's aft AquaClass cabin? We will be in of these, and I am wondering if they have loungers on the balcony as others have reported? Thanks in advance for any details you recall.

 

Looking forward to your next installment!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[alainamarie]

Alainamarie,

 

Thanks so much for taking time to do a review. I will be on the Connie in Early February and am very interested in all you have to share.

 

Can you tell more about your friend Kelly's aft AquaClass cabin? We will be in of these, and I am wondering if they have loungers on the balcony as others have reported? Thanks in advance for any details you recall.

 

Looking forward to your next installment!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Thank you so much for your response and encouragement! I will be posting more very soon.

 

I knew 2 people with an aqua class balcony room and was able to tour both cabins. Kelly's was all the way aft, 1139. The other people with the same cabin were in 9053. Both very nice sized cabins with large balconies. I also think they mostly enjoyed the amenities - Persian Garden usage, flowers, fruit, canapes, etc. I think you will be very happy with your cabin! :D

 

Enjoy!

Alaina

[crazycatlady82]

Thank you for your review! We have also only sailed on carnival, will be on the summit repo, and so I am very excited to read your review!

[alainamarie]

Room – Cabin Choice

At the time of my booking, the price of a balcony cabin was well over the budget I wanted to spend. When you travel alone on a cruise, you pay for two people to occupy the cabin (200%). Occasionally you can find a deal on a single supplement, but I was not so lucky. This was almost a deal breaker that made me go with Carnival. Do I give up the balcony for a new cruise experience? I guess I answered yes to this question because I opted for an oceanview category 4 cabin.

Thanks to CC, I discovered the ‘oversized OV cabins’. I was originally in cabin 8002, but during a balcony guarantee promotion, cabin 7000 became available and I grabbed it. I had my eye on these forward facing cabins for a couple of months before I was able to secure it. This cabin would be great for 2-3 people, so with just one person in the room, it was more than enough space. There’s a nice big port hole window that overlooks the helipad. There was a huge window sill that you can easily use for storage. The two chairs and small table are right by the window so you could eat with an ‘ocean view’.

And YES, keep your curtain closed at night because you WILL get a knock at your door! I learned this the hard way when I was showing my cabin to a couple of friends after dinner. I opened the curtain for them and then we started talking – I was always good about keeping it closed except this one time. Within 5 minutes we had a knock on the door from two uniformed gentlemen asking me politely to close my curtain. It really was my fault because I knew to keep it closed, it would have ordinarily been closed except for my guests.

One of my favorite features about this room is that the bed faces the window. When you walk in, the bed is to your left, bathroom is to your right and you have ample walking space around the room. In most cabins, the bathroom is opposite the closet. This always makes it interesting with two people. I had more than enough closet space and storage.

 

Here are some pictures of my cabin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the TV and mini fridge area:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Here's the closet:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

Here's the bathroom:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port Hole Window:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2014 by alainamarie

[alainamarie]

I will note that there is a door right out side of mine that is for employees only. Staff members did use this door frequently during the day and at night, so I did hear some opening/closing/slamming of this door. I would not say this was annoying, but something to be aware of and not surprised by.

 

Here's a picture of the door I am referring to:

 

 

Also, being so far forward, when you tender and the anchor is dropped, there is lot of noise involved with this process. So the anchor wakes you up out of a dead sleep and the tender announcements keep you awake. Yes, tendering is fun!

[alainamarie]

Thank you for your review! We have also only sailed on carnival, will be on the summit repo, and so I am very excited to read your review!

 

Thank you so much for reading! It really was a good time, but perhaps not quite what I was expecting. You will enjoy your cruise if you keep an open mind!

 

Hope you write a review so I can read it! :)

 

-Alaina

[alainamarie]

I have some videos uploading onto YouTube of my cabin... one is a tour of my actual cabin, another on how I organized my cabin, and the other on the hallway to my room. Apparently these oversized forward facing OV rooms leave a little mystery, so I tried to be thorough in filming and capturing photos for everyone to see this part of the ship.

 

Moving right along....

 

Room Attendant

I’m usually better at remembering names, but this young gentleman was very friendly and he never introduced himself. I am also to blame for not knowing his name because I never asked. I tried to sneak looks at his tag, but we were both always on the move when we saw each other. I do regret not asking, I typically like to use first names when I am cruising.

In the middle of the cruise, I started to notice a female coming around more often, so I’m guessing she was helping him. My towels were refreshed around 2-3 times a day and my bed was made every morning and turned down every evening. I had a total of two towel animals and he made them the first two days. Nothing after that… he even asked me what my favorite animals were, so I was a little disappointed to never see an animal again. I am not complaining, just stating the facts. It was a nice surprise the first two nights.

I was never given an ice bucket nor did I ask for ice. I thought it was very odd to not even have a bucket, but I guess this is pretty standard. My only request the entire trip was for my mini fridge to be emptied so I could put my bottles of water in there. He did empty the fridge, but left the mini bottles of liquor on the door – which was fine. I could easily fit 3- 4 bottles of the 1 liter Evian. I was not overly impressed with the service of my room attendant, but I must say I really do not require extra care or fuss. I was happy that my towels are replaced and my bed was made. I also had to ask him to help me with my shower- the water was not even lukewarm. He did show me how to work the shower handles, but sadly his suggestions didn’t help and the water never got much warmer. I had him help me on one other occasion to make sure I had everything correct. Long story short, Alaina never had hot water. It was not unbearable, so I did not call guest relations. My attendant never did check again to see if the problem remained. I could have made this more of an issue, but I was hardly in the room to have this addressed.

Laundry

On the first day, I noticed an Elite Plus welcome letter and a sheet of coupons. I really fretted about this because I thought they gave me another cabin’s coupons by mistake. My attendant hand wrote my cabin # on the paper, so I decided to go with the mistake and not call guest relations or captain’s club. I'm still unsure of how I ended up with these coupons. Just a disclosure - my status with Celebrity is 'preview' because this is my first cruise. I have no explanation for how these 'Elite Plus' coupons and letter came to me.

 

 

 

 

The only two coupons I used were for the laundry – up to 30 pieces of laundry to be used prior to the final 3 days of the sailing (these coupons are not featured in the image because I already removed them from the sheet). They included two of these coupons, so I used both. I gave away a few coupons to a table mate who was traveling with her family. My laundry was picked up and delivered back to me beautifully folded within two days of sending the laundry off. I really have no complaints or issues; I would just offer one piece of advice. If you have no concern on the smell or type of detergent that is used, then go for it. I love the smell of my laundry detergent (Gain), so I don’t know if I would take advantage of this again. I know I know - first world problems. Didn’t I mention that I was type A???

Edited December 29, 2014 by alainamarie

[Orator]

I am enjoying your review. Nice to see a cruise I was on through the eyes of another passenger. The water temperature is dependent of the water temperature of the sea and your cabin location. When I was on deck 3 the water in the shower was much hotter than when on deck 6. Ice buckets were removed from cabins quite some time ago; however you can request one. I'm really surprised that your stateroom attendant didn't introduce himself by name. Personally I've never experienced that. Wish you could experience my stateroom team as they were one of the best is many cruises. Looking forward to reading more of your review.

[alainamarie]

I am enjoying your review. Nice to see a cruise I was on through the eyes of another passenger. The water temperature is dependent of the water temperature of the sea and your cabin location. When I was on deck 3 the water in the shower was much hotter than when on deck 6. Ice buckets were removed from cabins quite some time ago; however you can request one. I'm really surprised that your stateroom attendant didn't introduce himself by name. Personally I've never experienced that. Wish you could experience my stateroom team as they were one of the best is many cruises. Looking forward to reading more of your review.

 

Thank you so much for your feedback! I guess I missed the ice bucket memo prior to the cruise, but it all worked out fine. I never really needed ice since I always had a bottle of water in the fridge. My cabin attendant was very nice and he did his job well, but he never introduced himself which is odd. Perhaps because we are both young he was shy? I'm not really sure. He did tell me I had the most organized cabin he's ever seen. :)

Also, good info on the hot water.. I had no idea location and sea temperature affected it.

 

Thanks for reading!

-Alaina

[alainamarie]

Ports/itinerary

I loved our itinerary – Labadee, San Juan, St. Croix, St. Barts, and St. Marteen.

Weather was not too pretty in Labadee and San Juan, but the rest of the trip was pretty nice.

 

1) Labadee – I had an excursion booked for 12:30 (adult sand bar).. We walked all the way to the end of the dock just to be told the excursion was cancelled due to weather. We were not too happy to find out after the fact, but I tried to make the best of it. I headed to Adrenaline Beach via the free tram. I ended up with a group from the dinner table, so we had someone put out 7 chairs for us. Be sure to tip these guys because this is the only money they make!

 

The rain started about 30 minutes after our arrival, so I eventually grew tired of being rained on and I took the tram back to the port. I decided to make this my first spa day! I scheduled a massage when I got back to the ship.

 

Some pictures of this overcast day...

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

More pictures from Labadee

 

 

 

[Babablue]

Happy Birthday! Enjoying your review. We took our first X cruise in November, we had a wonderful time.

[alainamarie]

Going back to work after two weeks off is not easy :eek:, but I'm back for more on my ports of call...

 

2.) San Juan – We had a late arrival of 2p, so I was going to walk around Old Town since I have visited this city before. The weather was so rainy that it became more work to hold the umbrella and walk that I decided to go back on the ship. I walked around near the dock for about 15 minutes. There were tons of tours and people trying to acquire the business of the cruisers, so if you are looking for a tour you will definitely find it. I decided to make this spa day #2.

 

This is about all I was able to take pictures of due to the weather conditions

 

 

The view out of my window:

 

 

 

After dinner, we went out to the deck for a dance party!

 

 

 

 

We found the family from our dinner table (they did not make it to dinner that night) out on the dance floor, so we joined them! Sorry they are so blurry, we were having a great time!

Edited December 30, 2014 by alainamarie

[alainamarie]

Happy Birthday! Enjoying your review. We took our first X cruise in November, we had a wonderful time.

 

Thank you for reading! I enjoyed my vacation, I am so sad to be back at work! :(

 

Take care,

Alaina

[alainamarie]

3) St. Croix – I reserved a spot at Sandcastle’s resort for $25 a couple of months ago.

http://www.sandcastleonthebeach.com/

You receive two chairs, an umbrella, two rum punches, and bathroom facilities. Peggy and I took a shuttle to the resort; it was only $6 roundtrip for the van ride.

I scheduled a 10a 90 minute beachside massage with a local massage therapist. A CC member from my roll call gave me her information, so I scheduled this about a month before the cruise. This is something you have to do at least ONCE in your life! Relaxing to the sound of waves… ahh…. Wish I was there now! You are pretty close to where the chairs are set up, so if you are looking for privacy, you are in the wrong place for a massage. I enjoyed the change from a spa room to a beachside view. Terry with Beach Massage and Bodywork Delivered - http://www.stcroixbeachmassage.com/ - was my therapist for the day!

Peggy and I then had lunch; we both had burgers and enjoyed our meals. We got into the water and relaxed a bit before heading back to the ship. It was a beautiful and relaxing day. Time flew while we soaked up some sun. I would definitely recommend booking this day in the sun – you can’t beat the taxi ride and resort fee for the chairs. Lunch was also moderately priced.

 

 

 

 

 

Our shaded location

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alainamarie]

More from my GORGEOUS day at St. Croix. This was probably my favorite day... beautiful weather, perfect spot on the beach, beachside massage, really?! What more can a girl want?!!?!?

 

 

 

Ahhh....

 

[alainamarie]

Lunch in St. Croix at the Sandcastle's resort restaurant...

 

 

 

 

My view while eating:

 

 

 

One last shot... kind of an interesting 'selfie'

 

[gambee]

Awesome start! Thank you for sharing :)

[alainamarie]

Awesome start! Thank you for sharing :)

 

 

That means a lot to me coming from my review mentor! Happy holidays & New Years to you Gambee!

 

-Alaina

 

 

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