Live: Oct 22 2022 Constellation Mediterranean Passage Transatlantic

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Here is a slow motion video of the winner's egg drop:

 

 

 

They cannot do the egg drop on EClass ships 

[wrk2cruise]

@mahdnc  Any chance Russell told you how long she will be on Constellation.   She is wonderful and would like to see her in April.

 

[mahdnc]

4 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

@mahdnc  Any chance Russell told you how long she will be on Constellation.   She is wonderful and would like to see her in April.

 

 

I am sorry, but that subject never came up.  I know she is a Cruise Critic member favorite.  I can see why.   She was a constant presence in the dining room, doing many tasks to help her short handed staff.  She worked her butt off and maintained a cheerful disposition.  

[cluso]

On 11/3/2022 at 9:54 AM, BermudaBound2014 said:

What is the occupancy for this sailing? (sorry if I missed it).

 

I appreciate all your posts 🙂

 

I heard various numbers 1600, 90 percent, and 80 percent.  I asked CC Tumi, and she went to her supervisor.  The answer was 1547, with capacity of 2170.  So, 71 percent.

[cluso]

It was a great cruise, with great weather.  We celebrated her 21st year since commissioning on 31 October.

A few notes.

The interior community areas were in excellent shape.  Carpets and upholstery were redone, and every area was clean and polished.  The crew worked constantly to maintain these areas.

Our cabin (a sweet 16) had not been redone, except maybe for the carpet.  The old red loveseat was well worn.  The shower was caulked and recaulked with a little bit of mold.  The balcony was pretty dirty, with a lot of painted over rust spots, and white paint drips on the "used" chairs and table.  However, we spent a lot of time out there enjoying the fresh air, views, and privacy.

The Elite breakfast is not a buffet anymore.  It is a selection of plates.  Fruit, pastry, meats, cheese, etc.  The plates were too big for us if all we wanted was a couple pieces of fruit, and a piece of bread with cheese.  We ended up with room service and trips to the buffet.

 

TBContinued... 

[cluso]

The "Quisine Family of Restaurants" was only Le Petit Chef on this cruise.  Some friends went, and said it was about 30% full.  Outside the Oceanside Cafe, they set up a table and were offering 1/2 off (BOGO) throughout the cruise.  We passed.  No deals on Tuscan.  After one meal at Sushi on 5, they gave us a 30% off coupon.  We went again.

 

Many times, the piped in music was TOO LOUD!  Outside, and in supposedly quieter areas like Cellar Masters.

 

Burgers. We used to enjoy the poolside burgers.  On this cruise the meat patties were twice as thick as the old ones (supply issue?).  Sounds good, but they weren't very tasty.  And, by the time you put lettuce and a tomato on the burger, they were too thick to take a bite out of.  Halfway through, the small buns fell apart and we ended up eating the rest with a fork and knife (twice).

 

TBContinued...

[cluso]

No talk about Covid at all and did not hear anything about any Covid issues.  I think there were some standard "cruise coughs" due to the long cruise and all the a/c.

 

Embarkation.  Arrived at 1330, no lines at all.  No welcome drinks.

 

Disembarking.  Had luggage tickets #1 to get off ship.  It ran about 20-25 minutes late due to Tampa personnel getting their act together.  Kind of a goat rope in the luggage area.  Too small, with roped off areas confusing people.  Once out, we headed to the taxi line.  One taxi being loaded, none in sight, we were next.  We waited about 10 minutes. The walk-offs had probably depleted the first taxi's and it was a Sunday morning before 8.  Didn't want to take the $10 per person shuttle being hawked.  It was slow to be filled, along with a towed luggage trailer.  Taxi to the rental car pick up center (outside of airport) was $30.  Six-hour drive home to Niceville, Florida (Destin area) was smooth sailing (with a stop at Trader Joe's in Tallahassee).

 

We will be back on the Connie in March. 

 

So glad for our cruise timing.  Looks like "Nicole" is going to be a weather issue for many cruises this week.  Safe travels.

[mahdnc]

This important piece of information was posted by @educated palate (Lael) over on the roll call regarding VAT refund.  I thought I would post the link to it over here.

 

 

[mahdnc]

51 minutes ago, cluso said:

Burgers. We used to enjoy the poolside burgers.  On this cruise the meat patties were twice as thick as the old ones (supply issue?).  Sounds good, but they weren't very tasty.  And, by the time you put lettuce and a tomato on the burger, they were too thick to take a bite out of.  Halfway through, the small buns fell apart and we ended up eating the rest with a fork and knife (twice).

 

TBContinued...

 

Did you see this currently active thread?

 

 

[cluso]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Did you see this currently active thread?

 

 

Ha ha, no I haven't seen that thread.  Guess I was too busy unpacking and washing clothes.  Thank you--we are not alone.  🤪

[Tipsy252]

1 hour ago, cluso said:

Ha ha, no I haven't seen that thread.  Guess I was too busy unpacking and washing clothes.  Thank you--we are not alone.  🤪

Not quite - we actually preferred the larger juicier "IMHO" burgers served on the Apex! Was looking to see if these were now served on all Celebrity ships.

You say Tomato, I say Tomato! 😉

[xamsx]

I hope everyone had a wonderful trip.

Only one rough sea day, otherwise the weather was outstanding.

We had an aft cabin on deck 9 where were were awakened each and every morning at 6am my the crew dragging deck furniture above our heads. And when I say dragging, I mean screeeeeeecccccchhhhh, squeeeeeeeeelllllll, and rrrrreeeeeeeeek.  My husband is a heavy sleeper and it woke him daily, too.

The size was phenomenal (family stateroom).  The veranda is extremely large, had a table, chairs, two upright chairs, two lounge chairs, and two tables. Truly could not ask for more there.

In the cabin itself the pull out sofa and pull out loveseat no longer fold back correctly. Maintenance has to come in to fix the loveseat the first day because it was folded on an incline.  Two cabinets had hinge issues which prevented closing and squeaked. Hubby MacGyvered one with dental floss so it would close. That also stopped the squeaking.

The open areas on the ship were very nice. I loved the seating in the theater.

The food in the main dining room got a little bland as the cruise went on, but that was not unexpected with six sea days in a row. We had someone at our table that was diabetic, and someone with a peanut allergy. The staff and kitchen were most accommodating to make sure they received the meals they could eat. The chef even prepared a daily diabetic friendly "sweet" tray!

All-in-all we had a very good time. I am not certain I would do another TA, but we did enjoy the experience.

Oh, disembarking! We had a 7:35 walk-off time. We went downstairs at 7:05 expecting to sit for our time, and instead were ushered off. Customs had no line to speak of, and after a short, $30 taxi ride we were at the rental car booth in the airport before our walk-off time even arrived! Easy-peasy.

We are on the Connie again in December and I had considered a bigger suitcase than carry-on, but with how easy walk-off was, I am rethinking that. Maybe just slightly larger. 🙂
 

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, xamsx said:

I hope everyone had a wonderful trip.

Only one rough sea day, otherwise the weather was outstanding.

We had an aft cabin on deck 9 where were were awakened each and every morning at 6am my the crew dragging deck furniture above our heads. And when I say dragging, I mean screeeeeeecccccchhhhh, squeeeeeeeeelllllll, and rrrrreeeeeeeeek.  My husband is a heavy sleeper and it woke him daily, too.

The size was phenomenal (family stateroom).  The veranda is extremely large, had a table, chairs, two upright chairs, two lounge chairs, and two tables. Truly could not ask for more there.

In the cabin itself the pull out sofa and pull out loveseat no longer fold back correctly. Maintenance has to come in to fix the loveseat the first day because it was folded on an incline.  Two cabinets had hinge issues which prevented closing and squeaked. Hubby MacGyvered one with dental floss so it would close. That also stopped the squeaking.

The open areas on the ship were very nice. I loved the seating in the theater.

The food in the main dining room got a little bland as the cruise went on, but that was not unexpected with six sea days in a row. We had someone at our table that was diabetic, and someone with a peanut allergy. The staff and kitchen were most accommodating to make sure they received the meals they could eat. The chef even prepared a daily diabetic friendly "sweet" tray!

All-in-all we had a very good time. I am not certain I would do another TA, but we did enjoy the experience.

Oh, disembarking! We had a 7:35 walk-off time. We went downstairs at 7:05 expecting to sit for our time, and instead were ushered off. Customs had no line to speak of, and after a short, $30 taxi ride we were at the rental car booth in the airport before our walk-off time even arrived! Easy-peasy.

We are on the Connie again in December and I had considered a bigger suitcase than carry-on, but with how easy walk-off was, I am rethinking that. Maybe just slightly larger. 🙂
 

 

Ann,

 

Glad to hear you guys had a good time.  Were there a lot of passengers choosing the self walk off option?  What were the factors that make you think that you are not certain about another TA?  

 

David

[Provence55always]

Hi David and Marcia, we very much enjoyed meeting you for coffee and chatting. Our walk off went very smoothly, we had no problem meeting our Uber…..we had an 11.30 flight time out of Tampa to Boston and a 3 hour 45 min wait time in Boston for our flight on to Dublin. Both flights were on time. We very much enjoyed the cruise but also not sure if we would do a TA again. The long sea days made us very lazy…..too much eating, drinking, socialising and not doing enough exercise……not happy with the weigh in when we got home😂😂

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, Provence55always said:

Hi David and Marcia, we very much enjoyed meeting you for coffee and chatting. Our walk off went very smoothly, we had no problem meeting our Uber…..we had an 11.30 flight time out of Tampa to Boston and a 3 hour 45 min wait time in Boston for our flight on to Dublin. Both flights were on time. We very much enjoyed the cruise but also not sure if we would do a TA again. The long sea days made us very lazy…..too much eating, drinking, socialising and not doing enough exercise……not happy with the weigh in when we got home😂😂

 

It was great to meet you as well, Noreen and Peader.  It's good to know that your flights back to Ireland were so much smoother than your flights getting to Rome!  I hope things go well when you talk to the airline.  

 

David and Marcia

[xamsx]

On 11/9/2022 at 12:30 PM, mahdnc said:

 

Ann,

 

Glad to hear you guys had a good time.  Were there a lot of passengers choosing the self walk off option?  What were the factors that make you think that you are not certain about another TA?  

 

David

Hi David,

No, there were not a lot of passengers walking-off at the time we left the ship. We were instructed to be downstairs at 7:05, and came close to meeting that time. When we got in line in customs there were approximately 15-20 people ahead of us, they were in groups of 2s mostly, so things moved very quickly.

While we have taken longer cruises, I found six days at sea in a row to be a lot. 
 

[FLCruiser97]

Final Thoughts--

Sorry for the late post. I just now today was able to sign in.

First, We had the most wonderful time on this adventure. Starting in Rome for 4 days with tours of the city and Vatican, to outside the city in the country side and underground in the Catacombs. I will say one thing, for a ship this age, she is still holding her own. Very enjoyable, comfortable and still elegant for her age, but I am partial to M class. As far as the food, OVC was good, BLU was good, Le Petit Chef was good but Tuscan Grille was just OK and it may have been what I ordered which was the Veal Marsala. It was rubbery and hard to chew and my homemade pasta tasted like raw uncooked flour. My cousin had the steak and said it was very good so I chalk it up to "when in a steak restaurant, order the steak". The staff was always friendly and quick to do anything for us and after a few days, everybody called us by our name (kinda like CHEERS!). We couldn't have special ordered weather as good as we had. All 3 weeks worth, except for one or two days of rough seas. 

Anyway, just wanted to let you know my thoughts. I would recommend the Constellation any day, any cruise.

[FLCruiser97]

In Tampa, all of the crew had to go through Immigration before we could get off.

[mahdnc]

22 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

In Tampa, all of the crew had to go through Immigration before we could get off.

 

Informative photo.   I walked out to the balcony at 2 am on the last night of the cruise and I was surprised how close Constellation was to Tampa as we were already sailing in between the navigation beacons marking the way towards the bay.  Perhaps the extra red tape from the TA crossing required Constellation to be the a little early?

Edited November 15, 2022 by mahdnc

[FLCruiser97]

6 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Informative photo.   I walked out to the balcony at 2 am on the last night of the cruise and I was surprised how close Constellation was to Tampa as we were already sailing in between the navigation beacons marking the way towards the bay.  Perhaps the extra red tape from the TA crossing required Constellation to be the a little early?

I asked a crew member and this is a one time thing when they first come in from a repositioning from outside the US to the US. They probably have to do the same thing going the other way.

[Silent Penguin]

On 10/29/2022 at 8:58 AM, choochella said:

 

1) How has the weather been as far as temps? We’re so used to sailing the Caribbean that we only need to take warm weather clothes. 
 

2) How long did it take for your cruise to be available on the Celebrity app? 
 

3) How soon before you made airline and hotel reservations? We plan on flying in 4 days before our scheduled departure. 
 

It looks like you're making my job easier.  Questions 1 and 3 are ones I was going to ask.  

 

[whirlybird3]

On 11/15/2022 at 12:27 PM, FLCruiser97 said:

I asked a crew member and this is a one time thing when they first come in from a repositioning from outside the US to the US. They probably have to do the same thing going the other way.

The ship has to go through US coast guard inspection then all crew have to go through immigration before anyone disembarks.  The crew are usually up at 0400 going though immigration.  

[mahdnc]

I took some photos of cabin doors that were decorated and couldn't find them to post until now.  The Happy Anniversary decoration on Cabin 8160 I presume is provided by Celebrity as I saw several of these on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FLCruiser97]

21 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I took some photos of cabin doors that were decorated and couldn't find them to post until now.  The Happy Anniversary decoration on Cabin 8160 I presume is provided by Celebrity as I saw several of these on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cool. Here's ours.

[Arzeena]

What a lovely trip report! I enjoyed it. Thank you for posting.