Connie Review - 10/29=11/09

[HRHAndrew]

I thought I would post a brief review of our recent trip on the Constellation. Of course all things written are either my opinion, or the shared comments of other passengers or crew.

 

Embarkation- Port Liberty was a little more commerical port than a leisure port. It is very clear that it is not used for much cruise traffic. I liked the close location of Port Liberty as opposed to Miami. Saved a lot of time and got us on the boat faster. As we were staying in a suite check in was a breeze, we arrived at 12:20, and were on the boat at 12:30. There were a couple groups of travel agents on board, so we followed them around and checked out all of the other room categories. As my name suggests, I of course liked the Royal Suite.

 

Ports- Our first stop was to Charleston, and was quite nice as it was our first time there. The next stop Freeport, Grand Bahama was not so well received. It was hit pretty hard by the hurricanes, and there was little action on the island. Not really sure why we were there. Nassau, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas were all what one would expect them to be. Great stops with many things to do. The last stop was to San Juan. Very strange choice as we had to be back on the boat at 12:45 so we could make the journey back to NJ. All in all, I wish we would have eliminated the Grand Bahama stop, and extended the stay at San Juan. Taken 3 full sea days to return instead of 2 and a half.

 

Ship and Common Areas- The ship was in great condition. It is amazing how nice they keep it considering how hard it is used. The bar at the edge is a joke. I have never heard so many complaints about one room in a ship before, and this was a group of complainers. I will get to that later. The specialty restaurant, Ocean Liners, is my new favorite on the M-Class ships. The decor is comfortably lush and the service and food is incredible. All the others areas were well maintained and serviced. The pool area was a hit by some chair hogs, but as I said I will get to the passengers later.

 

Entertainment- The cruise director was Nick Weir, it was his first week on board, and it didn't seem like his heart was in it. I think I only caught sight of him twice around the ship outside the normal emcee duties. The cirque show was very good for a first attempt. And having thrown it together so fast it was impressive. The "clowns" were a young couple in the crowd. They were very funny. If this show was anything to go on, I expect the new Cirque experience to be the type of success both parties were hoping for. The booked acts were all pretty good and entertaining. The Celebrity Singers and Dancers were a bit weak, with one or two members of the cast shining above the rest. The Michael's club pianist was Perry Grant, and I thought he was the entertainment highlight of the ship. Didn't think much of the Randezvous lounge duo. The party band was pretty good. Didn't catch the guitar player upstairs.

 

Food= Very mixed food experience this cruise. The food in Ocean Liners was gorgeous, and the food in the main dining room actually seemed a little bit better than on previous M-Class cruises. But I must say the food upstairs was very average to poor. It was to the point where the quality was surprising.

 

Fellow Passengers- Being that there were so many New Yorkers and New Jerseyites on board, the cruise had a different feel to it. I have always been a big city guy so I wasn't taken aback, but I heard many comments about the NY/NJ attitude that I wanted to pass it along. Among non-easterners, there were several comments on how it seemed like the NY/NJ folks were very nice individually, but when together they were a gruff unpleasant bunch who complained about everything and were very pushy. I heard many comments about how some guests would never take a Port Liberty departure cruise again. I think some of the complaints about the NY/NJ folks was a little overboard, I can see how some people would not be used to the big city attitude, and you definately get a concentration of that on a Port Liberty cruise. If you think that may bother you, you may want to reconsider booking a cruise from that port. You will get a much better cross section of guests if you leave from Miami or California. There is one event that I did witness early in the cruise that I have never seen before on a Celebrity cruise. There was one gentlemen who was a dead ringer for Dennis Farina, and he quickly earned a reputation for pointing out things he didn't like at the blackjack table. One of the first nights his comments ran off an elderly women who was almost in tears. The next day I was playing 3 card poker and this same guy was standing behind the blackjack table next to me. He made another snide comment, and this time the player made a couple comments back. There were some f-bombs exchanged, but things settled down quickly. The guy who stood up to the bully was fairly young, but a bit of a hero for putting an end to the comments. But it was strange that it got to that point. I have never seen anything like it on a cruise before. Needless to say, if you think you may not like a New York state of mind on a cruise, avoid Port Liberty. That was long winded, but I wanted to let everyone know that aspect of the cruise as it seemed to bother a lot of fellow passengers, though most smiled and put up with it. Many will not be using Port Liberty again.

 

Conclusion- I really enjoyed the itenerary. Having a couple sea days before returning was a nice way to wind down the vacation. The ship was in excellent condition and the staff was very good. I think that Cirque is finally on the right track and will be a true must see once it is a but refined. I had a great time and would do it again in a heart beat. I already miss being treated famously.

[Educators2]

It's very interesting to read this review of Constellation since we were on the ship for the Canada/New England cruise October 5-17. We loved leaving from Bayonne and found everything about the terminal to be terrific. Our house is less than an hour away and the convenience, ease of parking and boarding merited an A+. There was no New York attitude that I saw at any time. Of course, since the weather was rainy, chair hogs were not an issue. There was no complaining, either so this could have been confined to the group of passengers on the most recent cruise. Like this poster, Perry Grant was the entertainment highlight for us. I enjoyed the Cirque de Soleil "interaction" very much and the bar at the edge of the earth- it stretched the imagination and that edginess appealed to me.