Very Long Review of b2b on Constellation

[judyfssw]

Review of Constellation Cruises on 2/18/06 and 2/25/06:

On 2/17, we arrived in San Juan with friends, Connie and Henry, after uneventful flights from Detroit to Aruba. Since we were going to be on the ship for 2 weeks, I had LOTS of luggage plus my husband in his wheelchair. We went to the Marriott Hotel and, of course, our rooms weren’t ready. So, we ate and went to the casino and donated money there. At 4:30, they finally gave Rod and me a room but the others had to wait another half hour. But, hey, we’re on a warm island instead of cold Michigan. Later, we played in the casino and Rod won so that was a good omen.

Saturday morning, we’re leaving on the cruise. Rain was predicted but we awoke to blue skies. We met for breakfast and asked to eat outside. The buffet is good. When we were almost done, the skies darken, the wind picked up and it poured. We left our table decided that we’d eat on the ship.

The taxi turned onto the road leading to the ship. First we see a Princess ship, then…there’s the Constellation in all of her glory, followed by a Royal Caribbean ship. We brought our baggage to the porters, went through security, and there it was the terminal. We went to the desk, gave up our Xpress pass and, that was it! One of the ship’s helpers took over pushing Rod while we went through security, had our picture taken, took the elevator up to walk onto the ship. We had our pictures taken for our sea pass, took our glasses of champagne and went up to the 10th floor where we immediately made a reservation for dinner at Ocean Liners for that evening. Then, we went to eat.

Our room was ready when we finished. We were in an accessible aft concierge room. I really didn’t notice terrible signs of wear. Our friends were in a starboard CC room and they said that the rug looked worn and the bedspread had a big patch on it. Their room steward was going home at the end of the week and we think he’d already started his vacation early as they did not receive many things without asking first.

After our luggage arrived, we unpacked and then explored the ship.

Ocean Liners: The service and food were outstanding. The goat cheese soufflé was absolutely delicious. Try it.

Sunday – St. Maarten. The CC party was scheduled for this morning, but no one attended as it was too early and everyone was in the process of getting ready to leave the ship. I did try, but thought that it was a half hour later than it was and by the time I arrived at Michael’s Club, the door was closed and no one was there.

This port is really in the process of developing. I used all of my VIP book freebies at the various stores. My friend’s husband bought her a really unique slider for her birthday. I think that we went back to the ship and did some sunning on the verandah. We later enjoyed our bottle of champagne with our friends, went to dinner, went to the show and left some money in the casino. \

Okay, I have to tell you about the mix up with our seating. Our room cards indicated that we were sitting at table 438 which is a very nice table for 4. However, in the morning, I received a card saying that they changed our table to another which was a better table. Connie and Henry didn’t receive a notice about the change. So on the way into the dining room, we asked about it, the Asst. Maitre’d checked the computer and said for us to go to 438. But, there were 2 empty seats at the table next to our and we were confused. We waited while the waiter tried to get the asst. maitre’d to figure things out. They wanted us, after 20 minutes, to go to a table on the second floor. We said no (actually it was in a much stronger voice) and they said that our table belonged to someone else. They weren’t there and we said that we were staying. After some discussion with the head maitre’d, they decided to let us stay there. Then later, our assistant maitre’d, Garon, said that the table was actually ours and that someone made a mistake with changing our seats and that he had no idea where the other people who were supposed to get the placement change were.

Monday – Dominica. (pronounced dom e neek a) We went shopping in their little market and bought some souvenirs. I also bought a “Land” leather purse. Went back to the ship and sunned. I’m getting the shows mixed up and I think that it was “Matilda” night. Afterward to the casino and to bed.

Tuesday – St. Lucia. We went on a historical tour of the island. It was very interesting. We went to Bagshaws which is a batik making store and I bought a pillow case and a shirt for Rod. Then we went to a fort that is in the process of being restored. Our leader was Mrs. Bagshaw who is trying to restore the fort.

That night was the Cirque show. It was great!

Wednesday – Margarita Island. Rod and I didn’t leave the ship but stayed by the pool and relaxed. This was also formal night and the Grand Buffet which is always impressive. It’s hard to believe that they can put it together so quickly when you consider that the late seating diners don’t leave until 10:30. This was a special night for us because we were invited to eat at the Captain’s table with the assistant hotel manager, Connie Hammelmann. It was a very pleasant evening and she was a gracious hotess.

Thursday – Aruba. I needed to return some earrings to my favorite jeweler and that was our first thing on the agenda. Henry wanted to go to the internet café as it’s so expensive on the ship. After all of our purchases were complete, we took the group via taxi out to the Marriott Surf Club which is our timeshare to show our friends. We spent a very pleasant afternoon. We went back to the ship for dinner and then went to the casino on the island closet to the ship. 1 of 4 of us won-----ME! We went back to the ship for the sailaway from Aruba but it was so windy that Rod and I went back to our room, listened to the music of the jazz band from our verandah and watched the lights of Aruba fade into the distance.

Friday was a sea day. It was a little windy which made us rock and roll a little bit. We shopped and sat on the verandah and found the pasta bar for lunch. Wow, that’s really good food. It seemed really nice to know that we didn’t have to pack this day or evening but could relax.

Saturday morning, we awoke early so we could have breakfast with Connie and Henry. They scheduled a tour of San Juan which left at 8:15 and would take them to the airport for their late afternoon flight home.

After all of the passengers were off of the ship, the 40+ b2bers were taken out to go through immigration. Afterwards, we were allowed back on the ship or we could leave and come back on later. I should tell you that Captain Papanikolaou was also waiting to go into town. He was dressed in shorts, a tight T, and looked really hot.

We went around the terminal to the entrance to meet our friends, Darlene and Bill for the second leg of our cruise. They arrived, we went through security and back onto the ship. They left their carryon bags in our room and we went up to eat.

Rod and I were tired from entertaining and being up early so we were in bed before the sailaway.

Sunday – Casa de Camp, DR. This time I did make it to the CC party and there were about 7 of us, Beth and Gerald, Marilyn minus Lloyd, Colleen and Fernando (how I like his name), and Ellen. Nobody but Rod and I had received an invitation. So, afterwards, I went to Kim and told her about the invitation problem, she agreed to reschedule the CC party and would take care of the invitation delivery.

We’ve been here for the past few years and decided not to disembark. It did seem like there were more ship excursions this year and Darlene and Bill said that the terminal seemed to have more to offer. We ate lunch at the pool. I really like the hot dogs. We enjoyed the dinner, show, and casino.

Monday – Sea Day. We received our invitation to the CC party and I must say that we had a great group. It was nice meeting everyone. And, recognizing new friends throughout the week. The Slot Tournament was today and, of course, I lost. Later, Darlene and I went to Elegant Tea in Ocean Liners. We met a couple who loved to ballroom dance and was disappointed in the size of Celebrity’s dance floors. We also met a couple of 80+ men who were quite cute. That evening was the first formal night.

Tuesday – Grenada. I was very pleased to see that Grenada seems to be recovering nicely from the hurricane damage. There were only a very few buildings with tarps on the roofs. It was warm as we were sitting by the pool so I decided to cool off in the pool. I hate to admit it but this was my first time in the regular pool and I was grateful for the coolness of the water.

Wednesday – Barbados. We agreed to meet with some friends who were sailing on a Carnival ship for drinks on the pier. It was nice getting together and comparing ships. I went back to the ship and read and slept. Darlene and Bill went into town. Informal night and I went to bed early

Thursday – St. Kitts. This was the beginning of the end for us because we received our Immigration forms and notice when to appear. This is the first time for us in St. Kitts so we scheduled the railroad tour around the island. We were on the 2:30 tour which turned out to be over one hour late. The bus ride was good and we were given lots of interesting information from the driver. We chose to sit up on top rather than the air-conditioned part. It was an interesting trip but cut short because we were holding up the ship. We arrived back at the ship about 6:20 and we immediately left St. Kitts. We made arrangements with our Asst. Maitre’d to eat at the second seating when we found that we had to take the later tour. It was formal night, but it was okay and we sat right next to the Captain’s table. It was a great place to watch the baked Alaska parade.

Friday - St. Thomas. Immigration at 8:15 and it was a snap. Very well run. We decided not to go into St. Thomas but stayed by the pool all day. I started packing in the late afternoon. Darlene and Bill brought their bottle of champagne and we drank it as we sailed away from St. Thomas. After dinner, we went back to our room so I could pack. Later, I printed off our boarding passes for the next day.

Saturday – San Juan. We’re back where we began. We ate breakfast in the buffet to enjoy the waffles for the last time. We then went down to Ocean Liners where we were invited to wait until our color and number were called. Disembarkation went off without any problems and we were at the airport in no time.

Summary:

Embarkation, transitioning between cruises and disembarkation were handled professionally and with ease.

Stateroom (accessible/aft) was well maintained and showed little signs of being in constant use for over 4 years. Stateroom attendant, Melanio, and his assistant took very good care of us for the two weeks. I wanted to take them home with us.

Elite status is wonderful. I especially like the extra roses in our room. They made me smile constantly. The backstage tour was very interesting and high tea was very nice.

Room service menu is good but you have to be careful when ordering because 2 fried eggs become 2 orders of 2 eggs (embarrassing). Toast was always cold and hard and that was my only complaint.

Buffet has changed since fall. There are different foods on the two sides of the ship. I especially like the waffle bar for breakfast and the pasta bar for lunch.

Dinner in the San Marco restaurant was very nice. All of our food tasted good and was presented well. Food is subjective and I’m only giving our opinions. Desserts were so wonderful that I had to stop eating them near the end and I wouldn’t be able to zip up my pants if I kept eating them.

Our waiter, Ali, and his assistant, Budi, were just great. Ali was very professional and would do a wonderful job in any 5 star restaurant. Budi kept my ice tea glass refilled without asking. Garon, our assistant maitre’d was extremely nice to us and quite funny.

Our cruises were very port intensive as we visited 10 islands plus San Juan. The first cruise islands were all new to us and we enjoyed them with the exception of Marguarita Island. Aruba was my favorite island. On the second cruise, St. Kitts was the only new island on the itinerary and it’s an interesting island that I would like to explore again. The two ship tours that we attended were well done except the St. Kitts tour was cut short because the previous group were late.

Activities on the ship are plentiful! You can be very busy or very lazy. It’s up to you. One sea day, I had to make a list of everything that I wanted to do.

Guest Relations, Concierge, and the people in the Computer Lab were very helpful.

Well all, I can’t think of anything else to mention but if you think of something, please ask. This was a wonderful cruise for us. I really can't think of anything that I disliked, but then, I always try to think of the positive. Maybe is Pollyana thinking. We just had a good time.

[cruisePRN]

Very good report Judy. Was this your first Elite sailing? I am only Elite because of my diamond status with RCL. I see you got things not mentioned in the rewards section like Roses, how delightful. Are you cruising again before Oct. 5? Did X do anything special for those of you doing a B2B?

[judyfssw]

Karen, Yes, this was our first elite sailings. No cruises before 10/5. We have several trips planned with our children and extended family that will keep up busy. I was very surprised by the roses. Maybe it was from our room steward and when I thank him the first week, he just repeated it the second week. We were asked to assemble in one of the conference room where they had danish and coffee/juices set up. When we all arrived, they took us out to immigration. Then, we were told that we could either return to the ship or go into San Juan. Everyone was very pleasant.

[Traceybell]

Judy, thanks for your review it had lots of good tips.

 

Do you recall the name of the Cruise Director on board?

 

Thanks - Tracey

[cruisePRN]

It sounds wonderful Judy. I am looking forward to our cruise and meeting you in oct. on the Constellation.

[goldmom]

Judy- Great review.

 

I noticed that you were in St Martin on a Sunday. We are leaving next week on the Connie and will also be there on a Sunday. Several websites said that many stores will be closed on Sundays. Did you find this to be the case?

 

We were thinking of going over to the French side, but thought it might not be worth it if everything was closed.

 

Thanks for any info.

[greeneg]

I think that you were lucky; we also had Melanino as our Cabin Steward for our B2B in January and we thought that he was the best ever. If we could have taken him home we would have also.

 

Glad you had a good trip, we did also.

[mii]

Great review Judy. Very interesting. I am also looking forward to meeting you and DH on our Oct. 5th cruise. O.K. Judy I will be chit-chatting with you on our roll-call.

 

marilyn

[carlyshenk]

Hi Judy,

Great review! I just have a question about the train ride in St. Kitts. We're not sailing until next February, but we're planning on doing the train ride. Is it worth it and do you think the earlier tour would be better?

Thanks for posting the great review!

Carol

[poetic license]

Judy, thanks for sharing your cruise .... makes me want to go NOW! :D Boo hoo! I have to wait until April for my next cruise fix.

 

Cheers~

[snorklinbarb]

Hi Judy,

 

Thank you so much for your lively review of your cruise. Glad you had such a good time. We were on the Constellation when she was brand new for a 2 wk Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords trip. It was a 14 nighter, though, not a B2B.

 

Just got back from a fantastic time on NCL's new Jewel which we did as a B2B out of Miami. There were probably 150 B2B'ers, so quite a few more than you mention. I'm just wondering if the cruiseline did anything special for those B2B's. A couple people on our sailing mentioned it would have been nice to have had a wine & cheese or some social get together for those of us showing our loyalty.

 

What was your experience on that?

 

Having just posted my review over on the NCL Bd, I know how much time it takes to organize a good review. Thanks again.

[Jimsgirl]

Judy, I read your review, I am doing several b2b on Infinity this year and next.

 

One question, you mentioned waffles, last time I was on Infinity, they were only available in the buffet and even there they were not made to order, instead there was a large stack of small square waffles, in a metal dish, they were pale, flabby and cold. The "fruit" sauce was very watery (no fruit that I could see) and the cream was "cool whip" . very disappointing , Can you tell me if they have gone back to waffles to order- hope hope hope.

 

Thank you

[judyfssw]

On the Constellation, at the back of the buffet near the doors that lead to the aft bar/seating area, was the waffle station with the wonderful waffles. They were made almost as we watched.

There was nothing special done for the b2bers. We were asked to go to one of the conference rooms where there were danish and coffee but that was it.

St. Kitts railroad tour. We really enjoyed it and yes, I would go on the earlier tour. Our tour was over an hour late in starting and they had to get us back to the ship so the ride was cut short and we were quickly brought back to the ship 20 minutes after it was supposed to leave. I would do it again. Beware of the rum punch - it does!

St. Martin. Because it was Sunday, we were told that the French side of the island was closed. All of the stores were open on the Dutch side - at least the ones that we saw.

The cruise director's name was Derek Habraken. He seemed quite personal on a 1:1 basis and at the theater.

Thank you all for your positive comments. As you can tell, I really enjoyed this cruise.

[goldmom]

Judy,

 

Thank you for the info on St Martin. We're really looking forward to our cruise, only a week to go. We'll say "hi" to the Connie for you.