Constellation redeployed from Asia to Tampa 2020/21

[Tony UK]

Disappointed of course not to be able to return to India and Sri Lanka. Cant speak for everyone, however in our case Celebrity and our Travel Counsellor have been fantastic. In the UK they have set up a special department to assist guests with issues stemming from this.

We are doing a far East Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia in Jan 2020. Decided to return to Caribbean and Florida in Feb 2021 on Equinox. Got a great deal, great suite, aft S1, and kept the perks from our original booking plus $500 obc. 

As far as we are concerned Good job Celebrity! xx

[ghstudio]

From the press release:

 

Guests will be able to begin booking cruises on board Celebrity Constellation out of Port Tampa Bay beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, August 13, 2019

 

Why am I not surprised that the cruises don't show on their web site this morning....8/13/20?

[wrk2cruise]

Hopefully they will show up today at some point and someone will post here.

[BillB48]

11 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Curious to see the Panama Canal itinerary explained in detail.

A full 12 hours cruising suggests a r/t transit, not just the first locks and Gatun Lake like HAL and Princess do on 10 or 11 night sailings.

Particularly if the next day is docked in Colon for land excursions.

Different and potentially appealing.

 

I too would be interested in the details of the transit.  The 7A to 7P times may just be for all mark on the wall for completing the partial transit within those times.  Since there will be a full day in Colon following the transit, I would think that they will not be offering any excursions while the ship is in Gatun Lake.  By not having to deal with excursions in Gatun Lake this would give the ship greater flexibility in not having to be one of the first daylight transits at the locks.  Getting through Gatun Locks and into Gatun Lake early is a major necessity in order to have sufficient time to run the longer excursions.

 

Twelve hours is not long enough for two complete transits of the Canal, besides with two complete transits the ship would incur two sets of tolls... ouch!  While it would be "possible" to cross Gatun Lake sailing towards Gamboa as there are some areas of the channel to turn the ship around, this something not normally done.  After Gamboa the width of the channel would not permit a turnaround until Balboa.  Reaching Balboa would constitute a complete transit.

 

My bet is on locking through Gatun Locks, turning around in Gatun Lake and back out the Locks sometime within the twelve hours allotted.

[StartrainDD]

11 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

There is one additional little worm in the Port of Tampa apple, besides fitting under the Sunshine Skyway, and that is the heavy fogs that sometimes shut down the port for a day, leaving ships stuck inside or outside.

 

But I love sailing under that bridge and the port is just an hour’s drive, so count me in the happy column.

Our 7 day Christmas cruise last year from Tampa became an 8 day cruise as we couldn't get back into the bay due to fog.  Not bad for us as we had two days in Tampa planned before flying home.  While bobbing around in the Gulf it was a beautiful sunny day and it was a shame our swim suits were packed in our luggage which of course had been taken away the evening before.

 

I agree with others - the Tampa airport is great, almost as close to the port as FLL is to Port Everglades, and the Tampa port terminal is nice and modern.  BUT, not real excited about cruising from there again.  One would think with modern technology the "Fog" would not need to stop all ship traffic.

 

If you book a Tampa cruise and are flying - make sure to use Choice Air so you are covered for any flight revisions!

[cruisinagain1960]

I'm really excited for these sailings - we are currently booked on Reflection in November of 2020 to the ABCs.  But we would much prefer to sail out of Tampa.

 

I'm stalking the page now for the itineraries to be loaded so I can what the potential price difference would be, then we'll make a decision.

[Globehoppers]

Another reason for Connie being home-ported in Tampa is access to Cuba in addition to the faster access to western and southern Caribbean ports vice the crowded eastern Florida ports.  By late January 2021 Cuba should once again be a big cruise draw.  RCI's previous Cuba ship, RCCL's Empress of the Seas, is dated and really wasn't satisfactory for Cuba.  

[ECCruise]

1 minute ago, Globehoppers said:

Another reason for Connie being home-ported in Tampa is access to Cuba in addition to the faster access to western and southern Caribbean ports vice the crowded eastern Florida ports.  By late January 2021 Cuba should once again be a big cruise draw.  RCI's previous Cuba ship, RCCL's Empress of the Seas, is dated and really wasn't satisfactory for Cuba.  

I see what you've done there. 😉

[Cruise Junky]

Just noticed Infinity’s October 2020 itineraries are gone too.  Hmmmmm

[riredsox]

35 minutes ago, cruisinagain1960 said:

I'm really excited for these sailings - we are currently booked on Reflection in November of 2020 to the ABCs.  But we would much prefer to sail out of Tampa.

 

I'm stalking the page now for the itineraries to be loaded so I can what the potential price difference would be, then we'll make a decision.

Same here!  Booked Reflection for Nov 2 but would love to sail from Tampa as it is 1/2 hour from our house.  Will have to check prices and make sure we can keep our perks as we booked onboard our last cruise.  

[cruisinagain1960]

1 minute ago, riredsox said:

Same here!  Booked Reflection for Nov 2 but would love to sail from Tampa as it is 1/2 hour from our house.  Will have to check prices and make sure we can keep our perks as we booked onboard our last cruise.  

that's the sailing we're currently booked on!!

[Smmessineo]

41 minutes ago, Globehoppers said:

Another reason for Connie being home-ported in Tampa is access to Cuba in addition to the faster access to western and southern Caribbean ports vice the crowded eastern Florida ports.  By late January 2021 Cuba should once again be a big cruise draw.  RCI's previous Cuba ship, RCCL's Empress of the Seas, is dated and really wasn't satisfactory for Cuba.  

I sure hope you're right ! 

[Toftwood]

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

Just noticed Infinity’s October 2020 itineraries are gone too.  Hmmmmm

Is that when it is due for its refit?

[ECCruise]

8 minutes ago, Toftwood said:

Is that when it is due for its refit?

November 14, 2020 for dry dock so about a month missing (10/9 to 11/14)

[Cruise Junky]

9 minutes ago, Toftwood said:

Is that when it is due for its refit?

It wasn't, but who knows if they've changed the schedule again.

[riredsox]

1 hour ago, cruisinagain1960 said:

that's the sailing we're currently booked on!!

We emailed our TA about what we would lose if we switched.  Waiting to hear back.   She has the itineraries but can’t release them till Celebrity does.  We are booked in a Sky Suite and want to stay with that category.   

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, little britain said:

24 hours later.

My TA still has not received any information about this cancellation (she is in USA).

 

I still maintain that it is pretty poor to learn of the cancellation of my “big birthday” cruise via a U.K. trade publication.....

 

I too have received no notice of the cancellation/changes; learned of it on CC last night. 

 

I was eager to give Constellation a try as I like smaller ships and interesting itineraries. I will NOT be sailing on her out of Tampa, for sure. 

[cruise kitty]

Well, no one on our cruise has received notification yet that anything is amiss.  A good deal of people combined the cruise I’m scheduled for (Suez Canal) with the previous one... people plan exotic cruises like these years ahead of time.  I hate being up in the air like this 

[FlorenceItaly]

My Celebrity agent was off yesterday. We left today on a road trip so I sent an email to cancel my B2b Venice -Dubai and refund accordingly.  I am not interested in other itineraries.  I wonder if my email is how she found out about the redeployment.

 

[Toftwood]

When you consider the number of bookings affected across what I think is ten cruises, it won’t all happen straight away. You may well find that the press picked it up earlier than reported and forced Celebrity to bring forward their press announcement.  You can be sure that if a passenger had been contacted about their cruise being cancelled, they would have posted on this board or similar and the rumour mill would have gone into top gear immediately. I am sorry for all those affected passengers but I don’t think the events of the past 24/48 hours have followed a different path to other cruise cancellations in that the passengers will not always be the first to know.

[hcat]

2 hours ago, Globehoppers said:

Another reason for Connie being home-ported in Tampa is access to Cuba in addition to the faster access to western and southern Caribbean ports vice the crowded eastern Florida ports.  By late January 2021 Cuba should once again be a big cruise draw.  RCI's previous Cuba ship, RCCL's Empress of the Seas, is dated and really wasn't satisfactory for Cuba.  

I believe Cuba is once again off limits...but if it returns as a  permitted  port for X, and Connie goes there..so will we!

[Cruise Junky]

Caribbean itineraries are starting to show on Celebrity's website

[Jeremiah1212]

Interesting to see Labadee returning to the mix again...

[cruise kitty]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I too have received no notice of the cancellation/changes; learned of it on CC last night. 

 

I was eager to give Constellation a try as I like smaller ships and interesting itineraries. I will NOT be sailing on her out of Tampa, for sure. 

 

Yes,  it's not easy to get to Petra from Tampa is it?

 

[Cruise Junky]

8 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Interesting to see Labadee returning to the mix again...

Which was not on the printed schedule yesterday. It was Key West...sigh....