Connie Repo Review-Mixed

[cruisingsaw]

Just curious. What deck is Raymundo on. We are on deck 8 CC aft. I hope we get him. This is our first experiece with CC and this type of ship. I have sailed on the Zenith to Bermuda.

Thanks

[02143]

My experience on the Constellation, probably with the same crew, was that the cabin stewards were overworked and doing their best under the circumstances. What this meant is that while they brought us mixers and food for get-togethers we had on the balcony, I could tell it was a real strain for them to keep up and answer our requests, and I heard it in their voices.

 

This made me feel guilty and keep from asking for much after that, because it made me question whether I was treating him like the butler we hadn't paid for by ordering room service breakfast and then mixers later that night. I did my part to gather and clean up plates on the balcony and put them on a tray to smooth clean-up, but that's just normal behavior, I can't make an extravagant mess just because someone else is cleaning up.

 

So I tipped our stewards a lot extra at the end of the week, to make up for the work, and complimented them on our cards. Yet I feel like the stewards I had on HAL before would have provided the same service with less of a feeling of strain. I would blame the management over the stewards in my case, I know when someone is being overworked vs. simply being unhappy with his job.

[goldmom]

Jobinhume- That's really awful about the party under you. I can't believe they asked if you wanted to move and at midnight no less.

 

Thanks everyone for your comments. I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who found the food just average. I really have never considered myself overly picky.

 

It may be very true that the cabin stewards are given too many cabins. I agree that when we asked for something they seemed a bit put upon. Again, the only thing we asked for was to remove the items from the mini-bar and to bring an extra pillow, in addition to asking about my suitcase broken zipper. This was on the first day and we never asked for anything else. We didn't order in cabin breakfast or room service and always left the cabin tidy.

 

I'm glad that some of you had some terrific staff. I loved the bandaid story! Also, from what I understand, it's supposed to be the Asst Housekeeper (that mysterious person we are asked to tip) that is responsible for the various handouts, forms, captain club gifts, etc. at least that is what they told me at guest services.

[goldmom]

Also, another thing I found strange was that both of our formal nights were on port days even though there was a sea day either right after or before the formal night. In fact, I mixed up the Friday formal night and dressed formal on Thursday (sea day) thinking it was formal night and couldn't understand why no one was dressed up until I realized.

 

Also, did I miss or not ever find this? At dinner I don't always want dessert then, so I'll wait and maybe look for something around 10 or 11. We had early seating. I couldn't find any desserts on the ship after dinner. They had pizza and pasta upstairs, but no dessert. Did I miss something? I know they came around with gourmet bites, but not really any cookies or anything.

 

Thanks.

[marshaatn]

To Offtuneangel:

 

We had Cabin 7206 and feel quite fortunate to have had Raymundo after reading comments from others. He truly was fabulous -- always greeted both my husband and myself by name and did everything he could for us. We tipped him accordingly.

 

In the dining room, we were on the 5th floor and our waiter was Traynor -- he is one of a set of identical twins who are both waiters -- and they would team up. You literally could not tell them apart except by their name tags. It was pretty hilarious.

 

We loved the ventriloquist/comedian as well -- very entertaining.

[marshaatn]

Sorry - double post, computer issues!

[goldmom]

I remember seeing the twins in the dining room. They are very tall. You were very lucky to have one of them. We talked to a few people in the dining room at breakfast or lunch who had them as their waiters and said that they were hysterical and excellent and made dinner very enjoyable.

 

The first time I saw them, I had passed one by our table at breakfast and on the way out saw the other by the door. At first, I did a double take thinking, "boy, that waiter moves fast!", then I realized that it was the twins.

[Offtune Angel]

To Offtuneangel: We had Cabin 7206 and feel quite fortunate to have had Raymundo after reading comments from others. He truly was fabulous -- always greeted both my husband and myself by name and did everything he could for us. We tipped him accordingly.

In the dining room, we were on the 5th floor and our waiter was Traynor -- he is one of a set of identical twins who are both waiters -- and they would team up. You literally could not tell them apart except by their name tags. It was pretty hilarious. We loved the ventriloquist/comedian as well -- very entertaining.

Thanks, marshaatn. You've just made my day. We'll be in 7208 on the 19th of April for a B2B. I hope Raymundo's contract doesn't end before that. We'll look for Traynor in the Dining Room, too. I think what I enjoy most about the Dining Room waiters/assistant waiters is their sense of humour. I really appreciate you responding. :)

[Wordell1]

Just curious. What deck is Raymundo on. We are on deck 8 CC aft. I hope we get him. This is our first experiece with CC and this type of ship. I have sailed on the Zenith to Bermuda.

Thanks

 

 

We were in 7182, so I think you will have someone else. I think they assign the better people to the CC rooms so you should get a good room attendant. Hopefully you will have a great cruise. Good luck!

[Shine]

We were also on this cruise and had a wonderful time; had booked an inside cabin but at the pier upgraded to a suite. We had Carlton as our butler and he was fantastic, as was Menino our cabin steward. I dont think we ever opened our cabin door oursleves...one of them was always in the hall and would see us coming and run to open the door for us. We had excellent service in the dining room also, table 488 with George and Florian, both terriffic with good sense of humor. We weren't too crazy about the production shows, (with the exception of Matilda) but thought that the music in the smaller areas of the ship were great, (Cova Cafe, Renduvous Lounge and the Seaside Cafe outside on deck 10). Our only complaint about the whole cruise is the chair hoggers, especially in the T-pool area. On the last day we were there at 6:00am and got the last 2 chairs...funny thing, hardly anyone else was there....just towels and old paperbacks. It was hours before those chairs were occupied with people. Also, we did bring 4 bottles of wine, which our butler would bring to dinner for us and we were charged a $15 corkage fee. All in all, a great cruise.

[marshaatn]

Shine: just curious, what type of suite did you upgrade to? Was the price reasonable for the upgrade? We got there early but since we had the AFT concierge, we decided to leave well enough alone this time.

 

We thought the music in the smaller areas was very good also. Between Sudie in the martini bar, Perry in Michael's, the pool band and the jazz group, we thought it was all great.

 

We gave up ever trying to get a chair on the main deck but we could usually find something on the 2nd level. I did move some towels once when the chairs weren't occupied by any other personal items. No one came back to complain!

[uktog]

Question to Shine and others who had butlers. What suite nos were you in and did either Carlton or Rodrigues say if they would still be on board for the Baltic trips? We have a lovely CS then and always find the bulters can add so much to the experience

[CarolRick]

Just curious. What deck is Raymundo on. We are on deck 8 CC aft. I hope we get him. This is our first experiece with CC and this type of ship. I have sailed on the Zenith to Bermuda.

Thanks

 

We were on deck 8 cc aft.

We had Enrico who was also Outstanding...rick

[Shine]

Marshaatn: the upgrade was $300pp...keep in mind that we went from an inside cabin to the suite....final cost pp was $1,000. which we thought was very reasonable for an 8 nite cruise. Had we been there earlier and gotten just the balcony upgrade, it would have been $220 total. Room was #6130....it was a very pretty room. We were 2 cabins away from the Royal Suite....now that's a suite....OMG. Separate bedroom, with a DVD player and flat screen TV...dining area, bigger balcony. Not in this lifetime!!

 

Uktos: I'm pretty sure Carlton was going to still be on board for the summer....he didn't mention anything about leaving soon. He was really excellent, we liked him a lot.

[WatchHill]

We were in a Royal Suite - 6133 - and thoroughly enjoyed the extra space. Two TV's - no fighting over the remotes! Nice to have two sinks in the bathroom, and the walk-in closet with shelves was fantastic. During the cruise, we invited new friends to stop by for a drink, and left the door open at times as I knew how much other passengers wanted a look at the suite. Wish we had this when we did the Baltics, though with such a port intensive cruise you spend minimal time in your cabin.

 

Last year we had Menino on our Baltic cruise and he was always there when we got back from a tour, providing hot tea, snacks and doing lots of extras we never expected. Rodrigues was our butler on the repo, but he never mentioned if he were staying on, though in talking with him, I got the impression he was at least taking the ship to Europe for the start of the season. Can't count on who will be your cabin steward or butler as last year Menino was on the port side.

 

Costof the Royal Suite? A lot less than you spent for the upgrade for the sky suite. Lucky to have a great TA who jumped on this for us. Only problem, once you have the luxury of a Royal Suite, it's hard to accept less. Next cruise will be back to reality.

 

Darcy

[Shine]

Darcy: I don't think it was your suite that we looked at...you were on the opposite side of the ship from us....we looked at 6134 (I think)...but it was definitely an even numbered cabin. Good for you on the upgrade...it is hard to go back!

[Logie]

I also was on this cruise, my first Celebrity cruise. Would I sail Celebrity again-yes, but did not find Celebrity any better overall than Princess my favorite cruise line. I thought the food was good, but not any better. I definitely thought Celebrity crew went out of there way to be friendly and helpful, more so than Princess. Here are some observations.

 

• I loved the food in the Auqa Spa cafe and ate lunch there almost every day
  
• We had table 553 or 533 deck 5 for dinner. On the first night I asked if they served key Lime Pie and someone else asked if they served brownies? They stated no, but we received the brownies and the pie every night for the rest of the cruise. Additionally one other loved the shrimp cocktails and our table received several of the large ones without asking every night expect night 8.
  
• Ocean Liners was very good. My only complaint was that they would not serve our pre-paid wine we ordered in this dining room.
  
• Pizza was so so at best. One day I ordered it to room service and the crust was barely cooked. Princess has Celebrity beat on this one.
  
• My spa service was mediocre at best. I had the massage with facial combo with Ivana. She unaffectably used her elbows most of the massage and I was shorted on my time. I really felt like I wasted $165 and it was the worst massage I ever received on a ship.
  
• I had my own cabin and was in the basement deck 2. Cabin #2062. My steward was fabulous and everything was very clean and he was so professional and gracious. I liked the size of the shower. Bigger than Princess.
  
• I think the drink prices are a bit too high. I like to drink wine and you could not get a glass for under $10 with tip. Martini bar with Sudi was great, but again prices expensive.
  
• I usually do not do shows, but did enjoy the Cirque show and variety show night 7.
  
• Night life was non-existent for the most part. I was gererally bored after dinner. The club needs to get the DJ playing earlier. I did enjoy Michael Patrick the guitar player on deck 10 aft before dinner.
  
• Embarcation and disembarcation excellent. I liked the idea if not having to leave the ship intil 9:00 am and we were the first color called.
  
• The ship in general was very clean and looked new. The only thing I saw that was dirty was the white lounge chairs on the second pool deck
  
• We had a lot of fun at the art auctions
  

Overall it was a great cruise and I was sorry to get off the ship and go back to reality.

[tony_b]

....just wondering if you still tipped them? (tipping being for the exceptional service promised by Celebrity)

[goldmom]

We tipped everyone the suggested amount and signed it to our stateroom and got the vouchers to put in the tip envelopes. Although our service wasn't excellent, I felt that they did what was expected so we gave them the "expected" tip.

 

Knowing that they depend on their tips, we would have a hard time not tipping and after all, our cabin was cleaned and we were brought food so we tipped accordingly. Normally when we receive especially good service we would tip more than what is suggested, but in this case I wasn't going to withhold a tip nor add anything to it. Could be they were just having an off week, it happens.

 

It was surprising that on Saturday night (tip night), several of the tables around us were empty. Of course they could have tipped the night before knowing that they were going to be eating somewhere else that night.

[Logie]

....just wondering if you still tipped them? (tipping being for the exceptional service promised by Celebrity)

 

I tipped the suggested amount of $84 and gave the wine steward a tip, and small extra cash tip to the waiter, his assistant, and the room steward.

 

They all provided me with great service!!

 

One thing I forgot to mention that kind of stunned me. I was walking through the Rendevouz lounge one night. It was around 7:00 I guess. I had not encountered this lounge before so as I walked through I asked "What is this"? The guy behind the bar said "It's a bar obviousely!" I was stunned as I was carrying a drink so "obviousely" I know what a bar is. There was a lady sitting at the bar having a drink so I replied I know that and asked her "what the name of the bar was". Very rude and yes I put it on my comment card.

 

I should have gone back and gotten this guys name, but honestly I was taken back and was with 2 others so we kept going.

 

One more thing I thpought that was great was the finger foods they passed out at the casino and club later at night. I was not hungry, but it was a nice touch.

[duchess7]

hi watchhill, chatted with you at the Martini bar and also was in the room next to you(6131). Enjoyed the cruise, hope you did the same.

[Funcouple]

I also was on this cruise, my first Celebrity cruise.

[*]I had my own cabin and was in the basement deck 2. Cabin #2062. My steward was fabulous and everything was very clean and he was so professional and gracious. I liked the size of the shower. Bigger than Princess.

 

Lynn,

- was your stateroom steward Lyric or Lyrac?

- Did you make masks at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth?

[Logie]

Lynn,

- was your stateroom steward Lyric or Lyrac?

- Did you make masks at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth?

 

Yes I hsf Lyric, did you too? He was great, so polite.

 

I did not go to the mask event? Was it fun?

[Funcouple]

Yes I hsf Lyric, did you too? He was great, so polite.

 

I did not go to the mask event? Was it fun?

 

Yes, we had Lyric. We were in 2060 -- How about that! Lyric was excellent.

Everything was perfect. He was never in our face, yet, he was there when we needed him -- simply amazing.

 

The mask event WAS fun. We did not use them at the party, but we had a good time making them. We sat with a couple from LV and I thought that maybe you were them. But isn't it coincidental that we had the same stateroom steward?

 

We enjoyed the cruise very much. Would do Celebrity again anytime.

[Logie]

Yes, we had Lyric. We were in 2060 -- How about that! Lyric was excellent.

Everything was perfect. He was never in our face, yet, he was there when we needed him -- simply amazing.

 

The mask event WAS fun. We did not use them at the party, but we had a good time making them. We sat with a couple from LV and I thought that maybe you were them. But isn't it coincidental that we had the same stateroom steward?

 

We enjoyed the cruise very much. Would do Celebrity again anytime.

 

Hi

 

Maybe it was one of the three couples I was with. Or I think I heard that there may have been someone else from Vegas on board. I was with Kren, Ed, Elaine, Bill, Barbara and Cliff.

 

Yes I would sail Celebrity again too. It is up there with Princess.