Constellation 5 Day January 24 2015 Review

[JimHam4]

This is our second cruise with Celebrity, and in fact we took this same exact cruise last year at this time. Last year we were also in cabin 1138 (Aqua Class facing aft) and loved it so much we booked it again while on board. I wrote review of that trip also that can be seen here: *

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41701246

 

 

Booking onboard for us was something new but since we almost never use a TA this was one of the few ways to get some OBC at the time. Working with the agent onboard also let us take advantage of reduced deposits and look at several options, including Royal Caribbean, without having to jump from website to website.

 

 

Our daughter's school dance team competes in the national finals on ESPN in Orlando during Superbowl weekend so my wife and I *take advantage of flying out a little earlier or staying a little later to squeeze in a cruise on the same airfare. This means our choices are limited and these five night cruises fit in perfectly.

 

 

Originally we had booked the cruise after Superbowl but I decided I didn't want to deal with customs coming back into Key West so we made the switch to this cruise. Simple phone call to Celebrity and it was taken care of. Months later Celebrity reduced our OBC, but after a spirited "discussion" with a supervisor the original amount was restored.

 

 

Now to the trip.

 

 

Day 0

 

We are from Southern California and live about the same distance from all the different airports. For this trip we found the cheapest flights on JetBlue non-stop from LAX to FLL.

 

 

I love JetBlue but I have to tell you flying out of Terminal 3 at LAX has to be the worst. It's on older terminal with several airlines crammed together so the PA announcements are constant. I learned something new though, Frontier Air charges $50 for a carry on, cross that one of the list of airlines I'll fly.

 

 

We arrived early for our flight so my FIL could avoid Friday rush hour after dropping us off, *this meant finding someplace for lunch. In Terminal 3 that means food court fast food or Gladstone's. Those of you familiar with California may know Gladstones as the fish restaurant on the beach of Malibu. I didn't see any waves but the view of all the planes coming in is pretty cool. Food is good ( I had heard mixed reviews) and the Stella was cold; no complaints here. *Prices are a little steep but compared to other places in the terminal they're comparable.

 

 

We boarded our plane quickly and were soon in the air. Jet Blue provided free WiFi on this flight and when it worked it was pretty fast. *There were some rough patches in the air that caused us to lose signal at times. Snacks and drinks only on this flight so bring your own food if you need something more.

 

 

Arrived at FLL at 11pm. We were the last ones off the plane and even after taking the time to help a fight attendant wheel an elderly woman up the jetway we still had to wait a good 20-30 minutes for our luggage at the carousel; and ours was the first to come through.

 

 

I was able to get a free room with my points out in Plantation at the Hampton Inn for the night. They are about 20 minutes from the port and have a free shuttle to the airport or Port Everglades, unfortunately for is it only runs until 11pm. Rather than pay for a taxi (I was told with tip it would be about $35) I rented a car from Alamo for the night ($38 midsize for everything). This let us drive through McDonald's on the way to the hotel and eat after a long flight and we could make some stops on our way to the port in the morning. Alamo/National runs a free shuttle to/from the port and they are convenient to use being in the parking structure at the airport.

 

The Hampton Inn Plantation is a nice hotel. Not four star by any means, but clean and in a nice area that I felt comfortable in at night. Would definitely stay there again. They serve a free breakfast but we didn't take advantage of it so can't tell you what it includes. There is a Publix right down the street and a Costco where you get off the highway.

 

 

I will try to post about Day 1 as soon as I can but typing on my phone is slow and right now we're docked in Key West with things to do. Will try to post pictures too but not sure how limited I will be by my phone app.

 

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[Texed]

Ham4,

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[JAXCRUISER]

Thanks for writing a review.

[betmust]

Looking forward to reading this review. I will be on the Constellation for the Feb 7 sailing. First time on this ship - sailed a few years back on the Solstice.

 

Thanks

[bama4cruisin]

I look forward to whatever you have time to post. We sail on Connie in August. Having sailed Summit, I feel comfortable with the ship. Looking forward to your perspective. Enjoy your trip!

[Cabob1]

Hi JimHam4: I have booked the same cabin on the Connie for later this year. Can you tell me how big the sofa is in the cabin? Is it a love seat or full size sofa? Also, can the bed be separated into twin beds? Does the shower have multiple jets in it or one big shower massage type of head? Is the shower glass enclosed? Thanks for any help you can give. Enjoy the rest of your cruise. One more question...is the balcony angled?

 

Thanks! :D

[miched]

I must have fell asleep on New Year's Eve and slept thru a whole year. What ever happened to 2015? :confused: :D

 

happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[JimHam4]

I must have fell asleep on New Year's Eve and slept thru a whole year. What ever happened to 2015? :confused: :D

 

happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

 

Dammit, that's what I get for typing while on the drink package! Looking forward to my Alaska cruise in 2016 I guess.

 

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[R&M1000]

Hi JimHam4

 

We have recently been in 1138, 1140 and 1141 over the last 2 months, and found the verandah railings to be in terrible condition. Splintered, ugly, and almost totally void of shellac.

 

Curious if the verandah railing in the OP's cabin -1138- is still badly weathered?

Edited January 27, 2015 by R&M1000

[R&M1000]

Hi JimHam4

 

We have recently been in 1138, 1140 and 1141 over the last 2 months, and found the verandah railings to be in terrible condition. Splintered, ugly, and almost totally void of shellac.

 

Curious if the verandah railing in the OP's cabin -1138- is still badly weathered?

 

 

 

 

 

sorry........I had an issue posting the video

Edited January 27, 2015 by R&M1000

[dirtymoney]

 

 

sorry........I had an issue posting the video

 

 

WOW!!!

 

That's disgusting.

[miched]

 

 

sorry........I had an issue posting the video

 

They purposely do that to keep the sea bird from perching on the rails. The splinters hurts their webbed feet. :D

 

happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[JimHam4]

They purposely do that to keep the sea bird from perching on the rails. The splinters hurts their webbed feet. :D

 

happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

 

1138 looked similar, but quite as bad. No splinters though, just peeling varnish. Didn't bother us we were too busy enjoying the view you get if you tilt your head up just abit from the rail.

 

We are in Orlando now for a few days before coming home on Tuesday so sorry for not getting more of the review up yet. I will probably restart it with the proper heading when I get back. If I do I will post a link here.

 

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[hcat]

We are enjoying the review...waiting for more!

I am still posting to my Connie review thread...very detailed ..almost done

Can't post photos til we locate camera cable,..hope you have some to share,,,

 

we enjoyed the cruise, our balcony had a smooth railing....so maybe not all are like that..we were in 9052 AQ.

[weregoingcruising]

:(

Hi JimHam4

 

We have recently been in 1138, 1140 and 1141 over the last 2 months, and found the verandah railings to be in terrible condition. Splintered, ugly, and almost totally void of shellac.

 

Curious if the verandah railing in the OP's cabin -1138- is still badly weathered?

We're leaving Feb. 2 for a b2b on the Connie. We're in a concierge cabin and hope the railing ok. The amount of items I packing for my DW dosen't leave any room for a can of varnish and brush.

[JimHam4]

Hi all, thanks for all your support and questions. Because I accidentally started this thread with the wrong date in the tile I am going to start it over with the correct title. I'm afraid if I leave it under the 2016 title it will cause confusion in the future. Thank-you for your patience, here is the link to my new review:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=45506331#post45506331

[JimHam4]

Hi all, thanks for all your support and questions. Because I accidentally started this thread with the wrong date in the tile I am going to start it over with the correct title. I'm afraid if I leave it under the 2016 title it will cause confusion in the future. Thank-you for your patience, here is the link to my new review:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=45506331#post45506331

 

Never mind, the title of this thread has been changed to reflect the correct date. I had made a few extra notes in my new review. I will make sure I add them into some comments at the end. I am scanning in the dailies and Blu menu and will continue the review as soon as I have those finished, probably tomorrow.

 

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[bobsfamily]

Never mind, the title of this thread has been changed to reflect the correct date. I had made a few extra notes in my new review. I will make sure I add them into some comments at the end. I am scanning in the dailies and Blu menu and will continue the review as soon as I have those finished, probably tomorrow.

 

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More please! We are in 1138 SOON!!!

[JimHam4]

Day 1 - Getting on the Boat

 

An easy drive back to FLL airport and we return the car at about 11am and walk to the shuttle spot a couple hundred feet away. There is already a shuttle waiting to take us to the port; this shuttle is only for Alamo/National customers and you have to show your receipt to get on the bus. I didn’t see any shuttles for the other car agencies today, but I did see Avis and Hertz when we returned to port. A bit of confusion as people returning from their cruise are trying to exit and figure out where they are but we are soon on our way. Usually it's a non-stop from the rental area to the port, but today the driver stops at one of the terminals to help some young servicemen that had taken the wrong shuttle get to the place they needed to be to find their plane Can't get upset about that, and in fact it earned her a little extra tip from most people on the bus.

 

We turn our bags over at curbside and find an entrance set aside for AQ, Zenith and one other group (sorry don't remember if it was suites or elite). This is just the security line though and it's actually longer than the regular one. An employee comes over and starts divvying up our line into the other queues available and we are through to check-in pretty quickly. Once again there is a separate line for AQ and this time we are the only ones in it. The employee at the front puts us at the next available window and we are ready to board right away. We skip the picture line and walk right on. I'd say from curbside to on the boat takes no more than 20 minutes.

 

On board we stop to talk to the spa staff set up in the lobby. We fill out their information card and get some coupons for extras at the spa. Spa treatment prices drop quite a bit on the days you are in port. I'm attaching a link to their menu of services and prices (apologize that one of the pages is upside down but when I took the booklet apart that's how my scanner picked it up).We also talk to people from Tuscan Grill and ask about discounts for tonight. We're told they can offer 20%, but we decide to wait.

 

Not really hungry yet we stop by the pool bar to get ourselves organized. This is when I use my premium package to get my favorite rum (that I'm to cheap to buy at home). If you like to sip straight rum try the Ron Zacapa on the rocks. Here it's free, at home it's about $50 a bottle, just make sure you leave enough for my next trip. The place is empty still so I take some time to admire the artwork surrounding the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

After my wife figures out what treatments she wants we head to the spa to make some appointments for our day in Cozumel and then decide we could use a bite to eat; we stop at Bistro on Five. The price has gone up to $7 a person but still well worth it. There is only one other couple in the restaurant and it is quiet and peaceful compared to the lobby and buffet. My wife has the Cowboy crepe and I have the Tuscan(?). Both are wonderful and we quickly fill up. Instead of a crepe dessert we opt to share the chocolate mousse which is delicious, a little more dense than I'm used to but that only adds to the richness.

 

It's about 12:45 and an announcement comes on asking guests to NOT go to their cabins yet, they will make an announcement when they are ready.

 

We head over to Cafe del Bacio for an ice tea and to relax while we wait for our room. There's a decent amount of people around but we have no problem finding seats and a server comes over immediately to take care of us. One thing we've noticed about the Constellation is even at its busiest there always seems to be a seat available. Around 1:15 the announcement goes out that the rooms are ready and we sit there watching the herd of people heading to the elevators. Not wanting to fight the crowd we wait an extra twenty minutes and are able to quickly grab an empty elevator.

 

Cabin 1138 is one of the rear facing cabins just over the Sunset Bar, with a large, angled, balcony (there are pictures of the cabin and balcony in my review from last year). Our luggage isn't here yet but we're able to drop our carry on stuff and relax on the balcony for a bit looking at the other boats in port.

 

 

 

 

Our Captain's Club coupons along with the daily and a note from Blu are on the bed. Blu is asking for this first night, to help with crowding, we come between 6 and 6:30 for dinner. This is way too early for us so I call Blu asking if they are offering discounts to go to the specialty restaurants instead. I’m told they will check with their manager and call us back. I suppose we could have just gone when we wanted, I know others did, but I didn't want the hassle, and if I could get a discount why not try? Blu calls back and says no discount. No worries, I call Tuscan Grill and ask them. They offer the standard first night discount of 20% and we make a reservation for later that night. This is 20% off the onboard price, not the prebooking price. You might ask why we didn't just prebook, to be honest we weren't planning to do specialty this time, we are happy with the service and food in Blu and had planned to eat there all five days.

 

We spend the afternoon unpacking and enjoying the balcony with a couple of drinks in our hands as the Constellation sets sail away from Fort Lauderdale.

 

 

 

We decide to go to the Celebrity Theater for the comedy show before dinner. The comedian tonight is, Joe Yannetty, a twice divorced guy from Boston. His comedy picks on everyone and I think is pretty funny. I always wonder why people go to these shows though and think it's about them. There are two guys and a woman (not together) sitting in the front that insist on talking to him during his act and trying to heckle him. Hey people, if you were that funny and clever Celebrity would have hired you instead of this guy. Shut up so the rest of us can enjoy the show. Luckily this guy has the proper Boston attitude and is able to put them in their place.

 

The show ends a little before our reservation for Tuscan but they are able to seat us early anyways. I was surprised to see Alec as the Maitre d, last year he took care of us at Blu. An excellent host and he knows how to manage his staff. My wife says she also saw Valentina, our server in Blu last year, now working in Tuscan.

 

Dinner is excellent, my wife has the filet and I have the rib eye. They're both tender and cooked perfectly but we decide my rib eye has more flavor, even though her filet is more melt in your mouth. For dessert it's the chocolate fondue and another dessert I can’t recall the name of, but was a variety of items, both excellent. Just like last year we have to be rolled out of the restaurant so we decide to call it a night. I'm attaching the menu for Tuscan Grill.

 

I've also attached tonight's menu for Blu even though we didn't eat there tonight. I'm working on attaching the Dailies but having problems getting the file size small enough so it will have to be later.

 

Tomorrow Key West!

Canyon Ranch Menu reduced.pdf

Tuscan Menu.pdf

Blu Saturday Menu.pdf

[JimHam4]

Day 2 - Key West

 

I thought I’d still be on California time, but my body is ready to go as we pull into the dock of Key West. Rise and shine and I’m looking at a beautiful Key West sunrise.

 

 

We have no real plans for Key West since we had ridden bikes all around the island last year. We were planning to sleep in but the bodies aren’t cooperating; besides the Daily says Blu will only be open until 8:30; we decide to get up and eat at Blu rather than doing the buffet. If you can do breakfast at Blu I recommend it. The muesli and custom omelets are great, especially with a fresh smoothie in the morning.

 

The sky clears while we are having breakfast and before disembarking I grab a few shots of the dock area. Mallory Square can be seen to the far left. This shot is taken from near the bow of the boat so the gangplank is off to the right. You can't see it here, but the ganglplank lets you off into an area with lots of tour operators and bike rentals.

 

 

Key West doesn't really get going that early on a Sunday morning so we decide to wait until about 10:30 before we disembark. Our plan is to walk through the Truman Annex and then head up to Duvall and play it ear.

 

 

 

 

The annex is beautiful, and I think I could put up with the tourists if someone decided to give me one of those homes. We wander pretty aimlessly around the neighborhood and come across a street fair selling a variety of crafted items. We decide to stop by Captain Tony's and have a drink at was the original home of Sloppy Joe's; and the inspiration for a Jimmy Buffett song. Pirates Punch is $7 and comes in a cheap souvenir cup. They have a live musician and the whole place is pretty relaxed.

 

[JimHam4]

Deciding we're a little hungry we head back to a makeshift BBQ place we saw back on Caroline Street. Tucked among the trees is a little bar called Grunt's. There's a sign up that every Sunday Tennessee Steve comes out and serves BBQ ribs, beans and muffins from 4pm until he runs out. Don't know why, but this day Steve has been out since before noon. We stop by about 1:30 and get a half rack of ribs, cup of Chile, side of beans and a muffin for $19. I pop into Grunt's proper and grab a beer and soda to go with our food and we grab a table outside under the palm trees. Some of the most tender and flavorful ribs I've ever had and they go down nicely with a little amber ale. As we're walking out Steve is turning people away since he's run out of food. Get there early!!

 

 

 

We finish Key West by walking down Whitehead through the craft fair and going through Mallory Square. Mallory square is right next to the dock and home to all the crazies that gather to watch the sunset every night. There is an art museum and several tourist shops and restaurants.

 

 

 

[JimHam4]

Back on board we walk through the buffet and grab some dessert to take up to our balcony and watch the sunset as we sail away. As usual Key West does its best with the crowd filling up Mallory Square and the Coast Guard putting on a show until we are clear to the open sea

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll stop here for now as Formal Night is a whole story in itself. Great night but the start of my personal destruction (darn drink package!)

[hcat]

Great photos....

[Dunmore2]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. Beautiful photos too.

[TeaBag]

Totally enjoying your review. I love Key West. Your photography is awesome, especially the photo of the rooster.

Edited February 6, 2015 by TeaBag