Constellation live: 2/10/24 - 2/22/24 12 Night New Orleans & The Caribbean (aka Mardi Gras Cruise)

[Rudy888]

Just now, Rudy888 said:

 

We always went to Cellarmasters before dinner 6pm nevervjaf a problem.

[Lena11033]

Day 10 Cozumel, Mexico

As my excursion was cancelled for today I took my time in getting up, I went for a little walk and headed to get a coffee (I really like the pistachio latte and I'm trying to pretend the walking is enough exercise). I went to Luminae for breakfast which was quiet as most were getting ready to head out - while I had a nice quiet breakfast looking at the RCL Radiance of the seas ship next to us.

 

After breakfast I headed out to walk around the port a little bit which I really didn't enjoy everyone trying to sell something. If I do this port again next time I'm taking headphones to pretend I can't hear people. I did go to the duty free to pick up a Mexcal creamy Horchata flavour drink. After I went back to the ship to go relax with a margarita on a lounger and read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For lunch I went to the buffet, it was ok but not great food (the special was Mexican food there was a mole, quesadilla, rice, churros that I can remember). After lunch I had a quick check in with the dogs, (and my husband) Sherlock was not impressed (he's in the background on the sofa) but Watson and Cole were happy to hear me.

 

 

Rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, reading (with drinks) and ship activities. I do not take part I prefer watching especially once people have been drinking it's rather entertaining.

For dinner at Luminae I had Butternut squash ravioli to start with a lamb shank from the main dining and a vanilla creme brûlée. The waiter always brings the main dining menu over so I have two menus to pick from.
Mostly the dinner was good, the creme brûlée is not a creme brûlée. It was most like a custard with a caramel sauce on top. To me a creme brûlée should have the sugar coating that needs to be cracked with a spoon.

 

 

 

 

After dinner I went for a lavender lemon drop martini, at some point during the cruise they got the syrup in and martini bar was quiet. After I headed up to the game show and trivia before hitting the sack.

[Lena11033]

Day 11 & 12

Day 11 started with breakfast in Luminae with Eggs benedict with salmon, after I headed to the cafe for another coffee. I got to meet the Captain and Hotel Director doing rounds while having my coffee. I went for my walk before heading out for some sun before it got too strong. Aim was to tan, not burn which a lot of people did do earlier in the cruise we're talking lobster red.

For lunch I headed to Luminae and had a salmon starter, I can't remember what was supposed to be with the salmon but it was like a hash brown from breakfast so didn't seem to match the description and burnt, also the burger again.

 

 

 

 

After lunch I went to the mast bar for a drink which ended in disaster. The plastic covering for the vitamix came off, knocking over my drink all over me. It narrowly missed my work phone but got all of me and my bag. The bar tenders were scrambling to make another drink but I needed to leave as I was covered in sticky alcohol so needed to shower and I was meeting people in 30 mins. Before I left they handed a drink to me I didn't want and I left. I had to take my shoes off part way back to my room as I couldn't walk with in my sandals because it was sticking to everything. I hand washed my top and left my shorts because they were black. I had to wash all my underwear as well as my sandals.
I managed to make it to the trivia to meet my group which we did ok at. I didn't have time to go back to the bar between the activities in the afternoon. One nice couple lent me clips to hang up my clothes outside to try and dry quickly as we needed to pack the next day (I already had, anything not being used was in a packing cube in the suitcase).

I had an invite for the senior officers event in the evening which I didn't go to as I went to the last one (captain didn't go to the first one but did the second so kicking myself with this one). Dinner was lobster night and I ordered the lobster dish from luminae and the server said it was a small portion so he would ask for doubles which made it a good size (I think others who ordered from MDR in Luminae also got second portion of lobster I know I wasn't charged extra and no wouldn't pay I'd rather have less than pay for that), I also had the baked Alaska which was too much/too sugary I've had it before in MDR and finished it no problem this I didn't make half way through and neither did another couple on another table.

At dinner the people next to me, we started talking and discovered my experience in a Celebrity suite was quite different from theirs as my Butler only did what I asked and no initiative but as someone new to suites I wouldn't know what to ask for (yes I left feedback on this). They did mention their first suite it was like that for them too.

 

 

 

 

After dinner it was senior officers evening out in the foyer and pictures with the captain, I watched from the martini bar before collecting my charm from effy and heading to the game show upstairs. By the time I got back to my room my throat was starting to hurt, I didn't think anything of if because I sometimes have this when feeling run down from lack of sleep and I had been doing lots of walking and had been busy.

But on day 12 when I woke up that's when I knew something wasn't right it literally felt like swallowing razor blades and throbbing headache so stayed in my room that day. I let the butler know I was sick and had him bring food and drinks that day so I just watched TV and read trashy romance novels on my balcony. He also got me a mask for debarkation day (honestly I couldn't breathe with it so at the airport got another KN95 mask which was more breathable for me).

 

 

 

On debarkation I did go to the lounge for a coffee before leaving but wore the mask down to the lounge, sanitized and sat away from everyone which was the best I could do. I had a lot of time to kill at the airport and noticed there were a lot of sick people there as well with no mask but wore a mask anyway.

 

 

 

I think in total 5 hours at the airport as I had an afternoon flight because I'd heard of fog stories for Tampa so wanted not a morning flight (thankfully didn't do 5pm flight now).

 

 

 

Flight to Detroit was like 2hrs 45 mins which left on time and was smooth. Getting the luggage not so much. For some reason even though I was in business class and had priority bags they didn't come out early they were some of the last to come out and dented. Also I had a cover on it and the luggage was scratched UNDER the cover which is new on how that happened. At this point was too tired and am going to see if my husband can get the dent out of it. From the airport it's like a 50 min drive home including crossing the border, the crossing at Detroit is not so bad because normally its trucks/people for work where as Niagara there is a lot of tourism so it backs up, Detroit I normally have like 3 cars in front to cross over. My husband had sushi waiting for me when I got home because 1 he did not do any grocery shopping and 2 easy for me to eat.
I pretty much had a couple of things to eat and went to bed as it was like 9pm and I was exhausted.

 

 

Honestly I still am  exhausted a bit, every day since I got home I've been sleeping for 10 hours. Saturday I ordered groceries to be delivered because well there was none - I think we had eggs and bread. I think he's been living up a bachelor life of hot dogs and burgers.

Sunday I finally had enough energy to do laundry. Yesterday I did 10 mins of exercise and today 20 - but all light weights no cardio because my breathing isn't there yet. I no longer have a sore throat but even yesterday still had headaches but don't know if this is congestion related at this point as I'm still clogged up and now have a cough more. I know I still look terrible as I got on a work call yesterday with my manager and she was like 'what happened' so I must look bad still. But I'm now at least no longer taking tylenol cold and flu - advil if my headache gets bad. The other thing is because of my congestion my balance is off (sinus) which is why no cardio not even walking, I don't trust myself on the treadmill yet lol one other thing my memory is a bit foggy on things as well and takes a bit to concentrate but definitely better than I was last Wednesday/Thursday as everything hurt. But out of 4 cruises this was the first time getting sick and it was the last day so I think it's not bad.

 

[Lena11033]

Ship:
It definitely needs updating but its a good ship. Some areas got crowded just because they don't have the room or staff to cope.

Room:
I really liked having so much extra room.
Bathroom, one thing is I was constantly worried about getting out the shower as the tub was so deep (I sometimes have issues with my sciatic nerve).
The lack of power outlets was a little bit of a problem I had to bring plug to USB to charge my devices, but this comes down to being a older ship.

Staffing:
Crew was great but quite often it seemed like they were short (I know people been there a while etc get moved to the newer ships). But every day before dinner the martini bar had one server and it seemed consistently busy there that time every day especially as we had a lot of sea days.
Mast bar mostly was ok but definitely seemed short with people on deck 98% of the time I got my own drink and brought my own glass back because no one was around for orders or collecting glasses.

Luminae:
Again I feel like staffing issues, like the first 24 hours on the ship I let go of things being missed but a week in they should have had their groove with orders I shouldn't have to follow up.
Also lobster night I forgot to mention, everyone got a plate of treats, well I was done with dinner when my server 'remembered me' as he hadn't provided it while everyone else got them after the main course.
Menu was mostly good a couple of times there was nothing that really interested me and I got something from the main dining room

Michael's Club:
I didn't really use it, I found it too dark and no one really in there. I feel like E class might be better suited for me here as it's brighter and has a grab and go area from what I can see from reviews.

Itinerary:
It was a great route with lots of sea days to relax which is what I needed (although came back to work for a bunch of people being let go so maybe I needed it after). Unfortunately now they seem to be doing week long routes for Mardi Gras which I don't think will work, example I looked at 2026 it's a week long and you don't even get into New Orleans until 10:30 the day of Mardi Gras, I think that's poor planning as the parades are going by that point. Also not much will be open for sightseeing either and you leave Wednesday evening.

Butler:
Nice guy but no initiative for bringing anything or suggesting anything. Yes he was aware it was my first time in a suite so not sure if that was taken advantage of to take it easy but would have been nice for suggestions of ideas or even just bringing snacks in the afternoon.
Also there seemed to be communication issues between him and the stateroom attendant. Like when I needed a mask he said he'd ask her to bring it, that evening when she was doing turn downs I asked her and he hadn't spoken to he so she had to call him.
I noticed earlier in the cruise he told her I just come back to the room (think I was grabbing something) so she asked if I was staying in there and he didn't answer and left so she had to check in on me to see what my plans were and yes he knew I was leaving. I think he was checked out a bit as it was his last cruise of his contract but still make some effort.
 

[Lena11033]

Noticed this morning my points have updated taking me from classic to select, unfortunately it's missing half my points as a solo traveller so I called and they said the points should be there in most 3 days so will see. If so that will take me to elite as it's 12 points per night times by 12 nights.

[happyyaya]

Thank you for this running post! We will be on the Constellation in November...on a transatlantic. We'll be in a Celebrity Suite, cabin 8104. Never been on the Connie before. I notice on the deck plans there are two Celebrity Suites side-by-side and they are "connected." I have two questions for you: I know we'll have a quite large deck....but, is it separated from the other Celebrity Suite next to you? IE, is there privacy on the deck? 

And second, did you ever have meals brought in to your Celebrity Suite? Your photos show the suite is quite large with a nice dining area. Am assuming we could, occasionally, have dinner in our suite?

Thanks in advance for answering. And especially for the photos of the Celebrity suite.

[Lena11033]

No problem.

 

There was a connecting door in the room. Basically for my room when you came in it is like a mini 'hallway' on the left there was a connecting door. In my case it was locked but if you and the people in the other room are sailing together you'd be able to as for it to be opened.

 

On the balcony there is a divider between the two balconies as well.

 

I really liked this balcony, I did a regular room before and rarely used it but this one is nice.

 

I did room service a few times, mainly when I was sick. But yes the dinning table was nice for eating, one day I had asked the butler to have lunch for 30 mins after I got back from the excursion (I did that incase of delays). 10 mins after I was back he was there with the lunch and they set it up on the dinning table.

 

[awhfy]

Lena, so sorry on your Bella, nothing like a golden girl; we lost ours at 16. How are your guys doing without their queen?
 

thanks for the review. We’re on Connie for the 2026 MardiGras. I’m concerned about docking at 1030 on Fat Tuesday & only the end of Zulu  parade (hopefully) & we leave at 5 on Wednesday. We did MardiGras on Reflection in 2020 & it was exceptional. I do remember how cold it was!

[Lena11033]

10 hours ago, awhfy said:

Lena, so sorry on your Bella, nothing like a golden girl; we lost ours at 16. How are your guys doing without their queen?
 

thanks for the review. We’re on Connie for the 2026 MardiGras. I’m concerned about docking at 1030 on Fat Tuesday & only the end of Zulu  parade (hopefully) & we leave at 5 on Wednesday. We did MardiGras on Reflection in 2020 & it was exceptional. I do remember how cold it was!

 

Thank you. The boys have been doing well actually. I think they knew something was wrong - we're pretty certain her cancer from last year was back just with her having issues with her legs which is where it was before. Also before I left they would come and sniff her and leave her be, the day after I arrived in Tampa my husband tried giving her some chicken breast and she wouldn't eat it so he offered it to the 2 year old and he wouldn't. He's an eating machine he never turns down food but we think he could smell something from her on it.

 

I feel like with the parades the first hour we were there - nothing much was going on so you may be ok. The parade also took a long time, I never made it to the end and I was there for hours but called it quits as I was freezing and I made it longer than some people. You just may miss the beginning and majority of the cold - where the stands were the sun didn't hit until later on so it may work out in your favour.

[Sailing12Away]

We'll be on the 2025 Mardi Gras sailing. Do you recall when excursions to watch the parades and such opened up for booking? The only thing we can book right now is a cooking class that's costing $500/pp! Not sure if that's a 3 day long class, or we're going and catching the crawfish ourselves from the river before cooking them up, but too rich for my blood to learn how to make gumbo.

 

I was hoping Celebrity would offer some type of parade viewing day with a seat to put my butt in and rest without having to stand all day, as well as potty access. But there's nothing available for booking beyond that pricey cooking class.

[May B]

24 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

We'll be on the 2025 Mardi Gras sailing. Do you recall when excursions to watch the parades and such opened up for booking? The only thing we can book right now is a cooking class that's costing $500/pp! Not sure if that's a 3 day long class, or we're going and catching the crawfish ourselves from the river before cooking them up, but too rich for my blood to learn how to make gumbo.

 

I was hoping Celebrity would offer some type of parade viewing day with a seat to put my butt in and rest without having to stand all day, as well as potty access. But there's nothing available for booking beyond that pricey cooking class.

Hi Sailing12Away, I’m with you! Funny take on the cooking class.

 

I think somebody on our roll call thread will post when the excursions get posted. You and I already chatted about this there!

 

Clearly Celebrity has done it all before, which you may have already read about. The excursions for parade-viewing sounded wonderful to me! The one complaint was that the bus had to change its pick-up location from what the driver had planned. I’ve seen the NOLA police in action for traffic control, and they are happy to change plans at any time if they deem it necessary. Or something akin to necessary. I’m sure the bus driver wished he could follow his original plan! The tour guide led the pax to the new pick-up point.

Edited May 1 by May B

[Lena11033]

3 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

We'll be on the 2025 Mardi Gras sailing. Do you recall when excursions to watch the parades and such opened up for booking? The only thing we can book right now is a cooking class that's costing $500/pp! Not sure if that's a 3 day long class, or we're going and catching the crawfish ourselves from the river before cooking them up, but too rich for my blood to learn how to make gumbo.

 

I was hoping Celebrity would offer some type of parade viewing day with a seat to put my butt in and rest without having to stand all day, as well as potty access. But there's nothing available for booking beyond that pricey cooking class.

 

 

I can't remember how far out BUT it was a lot later than all the other excursions (probably because it's coordinated with city for stands and hotel). Looking at my email it was a few months out I booked the parades but they had been out for a little bit but definitely all the others were way before.

[Sailing12Away]

Thanks, I'll keep checking every now and then. There has to be more than 1 excursion being offered on an 8 day trip.

[georgiacat]

Thank you for this review; we will be doing this itinerary in 2025; our first Celebrity cruise.  Would you please summarize the weather?  Will the water be too cool for a beach trip?

 

What excursions (outside of New Orleans) did you take, through Celebrity or not?  Tell me a little about them.

[Lena11033]

On 5/9/2024 at 9:02 AM, georgiacat said:

Thank you for this review; we will be doing this itinerary in 2025; our first Celebrity cruise.  Would you please summarize the weather?  Will the water be too cool for a beach trip?

 

What excursions (outside of New Orleans) did you take, through Celebrity or not?  Tell me a little about them.

 

Weather was hit and miss. New orleans I wore clothes I was wearing in Canada because I was freezing - so I'd pack layers, especially as for Mardi Gras you are sitting outside for hours.

It was pretty windy most of the cruise so the ship was swaying quite a bit, even house keeping I was talking to had said the cruise before it hadn't been that warm.

 

Honduras, was hot and humid - I think it was in the 90s

Belize was damp, we arrived just after a storm so you could feel it in the air the coolness. I wore long pants (these, they are pretty light but I wouldn't have done shorts). I also had like a tank top and a rash guard long sleeve top on. Others had made comments that I was smart because they were cold - I also had read the excursion details were it said wear long pants because of the boat ride I guess - maybe also bugs a bunch of people got mosquito bites,

Mexico was warmer but I don't know if it was warm enough for the beach. I remember some excursions being cancelled but can't remember if it was just Belize or Belize and Mexico. 

 

So I purchased when OBC was included so being solo it racked up quite a bit. All of my excursions were through the ship, some countries I'm ok being solo but not these I rather stay with the ship.

• Honduras - Experience Roatan's Fauna
• Belize - Lamanai Mayan Ruins and Riverboat Safari (this one is a LONG day, first you had to take a tender to shore, then a hour or more bus ride, then a river boat to the ruins. So same coming back, but when coming back a second storm was rolling in so the tender ride was bumpy and difficult for some people to get off - mainly those with mobility issues)
• Mexico - I didn't do one as mine was cancelled night before so didn't have time to plan something else.

[georgiacat]

Thank you for responding.  I suppose I will be packing winter and summer clothes, and no beach trip planned.  I have not looked at excursions but will in the future.

thanks again for the review and response.

[Lena11033]

No problem.

 

Weather is a tricky one, I work for a weather station and yeah I can see things have got warmer with climate change but also still unpredictable.

 

NO was the weird one, it wasn't so bad when the sun came out but the hours outside in the shade was cold - and I am in Canada and thought it was cold. There were people who came without any winter gear so were freezing. Better to have extra clothes than not enough