Just off Constellation March 2-12

[pigfarmer]

we were also on the Constellation March 2-12 and had the best service ever. i honestly cant imagine being treated better, our cabin attendant , waiters, bar tenders everyone were great to the three children with us, age 9, 12, and 15.

i cant find a single complaint, the meals were great the weather perfect. my parents stayed on the boat for the next itinerary and we wish we were with them. a perfect vacation.:)

[SANDY BEACH]

We have just arrived home from the the Mar 2nd cruise. Nice to see everyone at the CC party. This was our fourth Celebrity cruise (10th cruise overall) and probably our best. Service was outstanding. We were in cabin 6143 among the suites (Concierge) for the second time. The balcony was amazing. Our dining steward was excellent and we had our table for 2 right by a beautiful round window. No complaints here except for possibly the use of cell phones. Too bad this technology has moved to our vacation time. Any questions, I'm sure someone here will answer. Happy Sailing!!

[katct]

Anybody stay in cabin 9004 or thereabouts? I'm curious about the motion and about the veranda sizes.

Thanks, Kat

[davekathy]

We also just returned from the 2 March 2007 Constellation Cruise. This was our eighth cruise and our fourth Celebrity Cruise. Passports and the Express Pass made Embarkation a breeze. We were aboard before noon. We were greeted with smiles and a glass of champagne.

 

I brought two bottles (magnums’) of wine aboard in my back pack. I was stopped by a Celebrity Employee when we boarded and was asked if I was bringing liquor aboard. I advised him I was bringing wine aboard. He verified the bottles were wine and told us to have a great Cruise. We did have a great Cruise and enjoyed the Constellation and the itinerary very much. The weather was fantastic and we have the tans to prove it. We’ve been to all the ports before with the exception of St. Kitts. We enjoyed all the ports. We can’t say enough about all the staff and crew members. Always upbeat and friendly. Our stateroom attendant (Rebecca) spoiled us and our waiters (Wayne and Mass, better known as “just in time”) made sure we all gained weight. We had a great table for six with a great view for our evening dining. The food was great no matter where we decided to eat. You can’t beat those warm Celebrity waffles.

 

For the most part the entertainment was good. We would have preferred more verity of entertainment. Too much classical for our tastes. Also there was too much time in between the evening entertainment schedules. On sea days the pool side band would only play for an hour. We would have liked more music pool side.

 

In our opinion the Cruise Director, Don Fluke failed and needs to be replaced. He was not funny, entertaining, energetic or informative. This was our eighth cruise and he stood out to be the worst Cruise Director.

 

During sea days we never had a problem finding chairs. We always elected to sit on Deck 11 right above the pool which was on Deck 10. Great view of the pool and the seas. We did notice the Pool Butlers roaming a lot more removing towels from chairs. Security seemed to be a lot more visible on the pool decks.

 

We would like to see Celebrity do a total make over of the bar at the edge of the earth. Great area during the day to sit and visit but the decorations and furniture needs to be replaced. The fake wood floor needs to be replaced with carpet. It seemed dumpy to us. Other than that the Constellation is kept in excellent shape. All public eras always clean and neat. Plenty of hand sanitizer stations located in all the public areas. We felt Celebrity was doing their part to keep the ship and the passengers healthy. The Constellation has a lot to offer and see. For those that will be sailing her in the future, take some time during a sea day and explore her. We only used our ship map on the first day. We felt the Constellation was laid out well. For my wife there was an added bonus, the Conservatory. We found it on the first sea day. Love those sea days. The Constellation is a beautiful ship inside and out. The Cruise was great with a lot of fun times. The only bummer is the time went way to fast.

[cheffip]

How was the pool band? Is it still Nfusion? It's been criticized a lot here in the past.

[Maraprince]

davekathy,

 

Unless I am mistaken, the Constellation will be going into dry dock before the fall. Perhaps at that time some changes will be made to the Bar at the End of the Earth since Cirque d'Soile is no longer there.

 

IMP, it was much nicer before the change over.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

[jasm8449]

We disembarked Constellation on March 2 - the day of your sailing. It was our 5th time on Constellation and we thought the service was absolutely excellent everywhere on the ship. Where in particular did you feel the quality of service failed you?

[teajak]

Can anyone tell me who the CC hostess is on the Constellation. We are on the April 2 cruise, thanks.

[JanineM]

We disembarked Constellation on March 2 - the day of your sailing. It was our 5th time on Constellation and we thought the service was absolutely excellent everywhere on the ship. Where in particular did you feel the quality of service failed you?

 

I'm still working on my review (it needs some serious editing!), but here were my main complaints about service. There were all kinds of wonderful things about the cruise, but since you asked about the problems ...

 

Our waiter was good, but I think he had too many tables. I am severely allergic to shellfish and on other cruises our wait staff have been extremely diligent about ensuring that I didn't accidentally order anything with shellfish. We had to ask every night, and we avoided the dining room on lobster night because I couldn't be sure that extra care would be taken with my entree. On other cruises the waiters and head waiters have spent time we me at every meal to ensure that I'm not ordering something that will cause a reaction. Other than that, he was quite pleasant and performed adequately.

 

Our assistant waiter/bus boy was absolutely inept. He stood in the wait station all of the time; we had to flag him over to get refills of water, he never remembered that we wanted iced tea, we would have our salads for 4-5 minutes before he brought over the dressings (meanwhile, he was standing in the wait station just looking at us). Another bus boy took pity on us and would rush over to fill our water glasses or remove our plates. BTW - our bus boy had exactly three tables of 2 people for our seating, he wasn't exactly run off of his feet.

 

One of the bartenders in the pool bar on deck 10 was really rude on several occasions. As someone else also experienced, he didn't like to fill the soda cups (even though I was usually buying one drink and getting one Coke). Another time I asked if he had hot water available (I picked up a really nasty head cold on day 6) and he just kept scowling and pointing me to the Aqua Spa (which didn't have any hot water at that time of day). When I made similar requests at other bars they smilingly filled up my cup.

 

Guest Relations were also useless. They messed up our disembarkation time (or rather they chose to ignore our request after promising to fulfill it). On three different days I called countless times trying to get a reservation for Casual Dining and the phone would ring and ring and ring. When I asked one of the officers in the Cafe how I could get a reservation when Guest Relations wouldn't answer the phone, he said, "you have to phone guest relations". Duhhhhhh.

 

Granted, we were in an ocean view on the 2nd deck, and not in Concierge Class. I know that Cunard provides varying levels of service based on cabin class, but I didn't realize that Celebrity had the same policies. If I had known that, I probably would have altered my expectations.

 

I'm always a "glass is half full" type of person and it is absolutely not my nature to complain. Perhaps I did expect too much, and maybe we just had a run of bad luck with our servers. It looks like we were in the minority and most others had truly wonderful service.

[gracecarmo]

I checked the sailings for the Connie and could not find any open dates for the fall that would accomodate a drydock. Anyone know if it will go on at all?

I was sure hoping to have some "new" bedding for our cruise in Sept.

[CyberSailors]

We also just returned from the March 2 sailing and I wanted to add a few lines on the Aquaspa, since that's where we spent a lot of our time. We have been successful Weight Watchers since last June and were very worried about gaining too much weight -- I can confirm that you can have a great time without going "off the scale." We loved the Aquaspa Cafe for breakfast and lunch: the breakfast had cereal, fruit, lox, bagels, etc -- same as available from other breakfast place but no temptation from seeing all the "yummy but bad" stuff. :p Lunch always included a cold fruit or veggie soup (good) and 4-5 "healthy choice" type plates -- we usually chose one each and shared bites at lunchtime and sometimes had another plate as a snack in the afternoon (Aquaspa Cafe is open from noon to 8:00pm). However, I noticed that a lot of people took two plates and a dessert which was still pretty healthy. And we ate dinner in the main dining room almost every night -- when the entree looked too heavy, we ordered salmon or chicken breast which was always on the menu. As time went on, we began to succumb to the desserts, so it was a good thing we only did two B2B cruises.;)

 

The GYM was fabulous -- the excellent "lifestyle coaches" were Betty Predu and Sipho, who alternated leading morning stretch routines every day at 7:30am and then a body conditioning routine of one kind or another from 8:00 to 8:30am and again at 5:00-5:30pm most days. In the gym there were 10-12 treadmills, 6-8 ellipticals & stationary bikes and what looked like a very complete weight machine circuit. There was also a free weight area and a good-sized hardwood exercise floor. The machines tended to be pretty well-utilized early in the morning, but otherwise there seemed to be plenty of space (and that was true of the Feb 19 sailing also). Betty & Sipho also did Pilates, Yoga & Spinning classes on "at sea" days (you sign up for a series at $10 per class) but we only did the free classes and used the machines. Everything was clean and in good shape (new exercise mats came on the 3rd day). You could have special evaluations of body mass and fat percentages done and could also have individual coaching -- I was very impressed by the expertise of both Betty & Sipho. A "detox" regimen was also offered which we didn't do, so I can't comment.

 

We signed up for the Persian Gardens and got a deal of $150 for two people by signing up for both our B2B cruises (total of $300) -- I never saw an offer for less than $200/couple or $150 for one otherwise. It was really nice, especially the Turkish bath (wet) and the Sahara (dry), but I think it was quite expensive and I wouldn't do it again even for the price we got. There weren't many people in the Persian Garden when we were there, so I think the price keeps numbers down.

 

As for the rest of the Aquaspa, I had a couple of manicures and my husband had a massage. Service was excellent and the facilities are lovely -- views of the ocean in both areas.

 

The Thallasotherapy pool is great -- warm with two hotter jacuzzis. The pool and Aquaspa Cafe is in the same glassed-in area so it's very pleasant. I wouldn't want to sail on a ship without it.

[CyberSailors]

It is my understanding that the Constellation will go into dry dock the first two weeks in May, then leave for the Baltic.

[gracecarmo]

and I am hoping new mattresses, drapes and bedspreads!

 

We also enjoyed the Aquaspa Cafe...especially for breakfast.

[dedlaw]

To answer one question, pool band was Intensz. They were pretty good. In the evenings, in the Rendevous lounge they alternated with the Coco Band, which had a truly great trumpeter from Poland, they did jazz and pop very well. One entertainer on board was a pianist named Brooks Aehron (sp?) -- he had a high-level-schtick routine and tended to bang loudly far too much for my tastes, but most in the audience lapped it up.

 

As for cell phones, my Verizon phone worked on board (except when in port, as expected), and I did nothing in advance to arrange that (indeed, I tried to do so and was told by Verizon that it just wouldn't work). I used it to call my office once or twice, and my teenage daughter three or four times. We were always careful to call from the cabin or someplace where it wouldn't bug others, and my observation on this cruise was that other cell phone users were similarly discrete -- if we can all maintain that approach, adding phone service will be a net positive.

[louisenana]

We just returned on Friday as we spent 4 additional nights in Orlando. This was our 2nd X cruise (Millenieum 2004), and I was not disappointed. I was so very lucky to get a family suite when I called to make final payment in Dec. Someone must have either cancelled or missed the final date. We were in cabin 7204, it was fabulous. The deck is huge, a separate living room spce from the sleeping cabin. It was very quiet and having breakfast ensuite on the deck was the height of relaxation. The meals were all excellent except for the final lunch on day 9, nothing from the buffet was that enticing and I was in swimwear so lunch in the san Marco did not work out. We did not eat in Oceanliners as I have had recent surgery and my appetite is diminished. Perry Grant is hysterical, we even bought his CD. Now only to find Judy Garland's DVD with Nat King Cole... I did the survey at the end and remarked that the selection of CD's for the karoake is lacking, my husband sang all 3 nights and Celebrity needs to update the list. I gave them suggestions, hope they follow through as this is a low cost item that generates a large crowd and plenty of bar drinks. The floral arrangements about the ship are horrendous silk that have been neglected, we talked to the new floral designer and he said this would be addressed when in dry dock. Overall we had a great experience and I am ready to sail again. The cruise age was a bit older than out previous cruise, there were very few people out dancing or at the Bar at the Edge in the later evening, would have liked have seen more cruisers out having fun!:)

[greygypsy]

Great cruise, great fun, great company!! No long reviews from me this time - the Connie is still the best ship afloat, and will only be better after the dry dock!! We also brought some bottles of wine on board with us for the room, but we did see the crew taking liquor including wine bottles away from customers at the ports, so we didn't get any more on the way - oh well. We did find the wine list at the restaurants much improved from our last time, and we got good wine service this time (which hasn't always been the case in the past). The one thing I do miss from Regent and Silversea is the all inclusiveness since we do drink wine and have cocktails and this was by far our biggest bar tab on any cruise (and not necessarily because we drank any more - the prices have gone up quite a lot). Still, Celebrity is darn good value for the travel dollar, and remains my favorite cruise line. Jeff

[Donnaluv2cruise]

I thought you were allowed to bring wine? What about the people who pack a case and put a luggage tag on it?

Anyone else have some recent observations?

4 years ago on The Connie we packed a couple of bottles of wine and some liquor in our suitcases. We even bought a six pack of beer in one of the ports one day. We never had a problem.

Don't get me wrong, we're not trying to be cheap or anything, we still have a great big bill at the end and usually stay in a suite. But we really enjoy our veranda a lot and enjoy having cocktails out there.

[dedlaw]

My guess is, your guess is as good as mine. In St. Thomas I bought two bottles of rum, sealed up in a two-bottle package so I could pack it in my luggage for the return flight. I put it through the scanner when I returned to the ship and it had to be real obvious what it was, but they just handed it to me and smiled, that was it. I walked past the table where they were logging in the MANY confiscated bottles (which they returned to others annoyingly late on the last day), they looked at me and smiled, never asked me to hand over the bottles. So who knows what they'll do with a whole shipper-pack case of wine?

[BobbieAnne]

Water.Baby or any of you just back from a Constellation Cruise

 

We are cruising(1st time on Celebrity) TA in April. Can you answer a few questions?

What entertainment is aboard currently?

Who were your lecturers? About what did they lecture?

What were some of the classes offered?

How was the library?

 

Thanks

[lwing69]

we are on the Constellation 11-16 for our 25th anniversary for the first time back on Celebrity since a cruise on the Millenium with our kids in '03 and we are thrilled. I keep seeing postings abour Michael Perry. Who is he? Will he be on my cruise? Our last cruise was on Carnival and it was ok but I did love their piano bar. Has Celebrity's piano bar experience improved?

Thanx for your help.

Winger

[JanineM]

Water.Baby or any of you just back from a Constellation Cruise

 

We are cruising(1st time on Celebrity) TA in April. Can you answer a few questions?

What entertainment is aboard currently?

Who were your lecturers? About what did they lecture?

What were some of the classes offered?

How was the library?

 

Thanks

 

We primarily went to the production shows at night, and the guest entertainers change from week to week. There was a jazz fiddler (Doug Cameron), a classical pianist, a guy who played an electronic xylophone, and a couple of others. You will see other notes in this thread about the entertainment throughout the ship.

 

We didn't go to the lectures. There were two different women lecturers; one spoke on stress and improving your life, the other had a couple of talks about publishing books.

 

The only classes I saw offered were wine related (I took a wine matching course, but there were others), or dancing lessons.

 

The library was excellent. I read about six books, and DH read about three. Many, many choices for every interest.

[JanineM]

we are on the Constellation 11-16 for our 25th anniversary for the first time back on Celebrity since a cruise on the Millenium with our kids in '03 and we are thrilled. I keep seeing postings abour Michael Perry. Who is he? Will he be on my cruise? Our last cruise was on Carnival and it was ok but I did love their piano bar. Has Celebrity's piano bar experience improved?

Thanx for your help.

Winger

 

Perry Grant was the pianist/vocalist in Michael's Club. It looks like he is almost a permanent fixture but I don't know how long he will be on the ship. He does a cabaret/lounge act that is great ... if you like cabaret/lounge acts. I love them and would have been there every night if we had been able to get seats!

[BobbieAnne]

Thanks, WaterBaby,

 

I am especially glad to hear that the library is good. How do you get seats at Michael's Club for Perry Grant? Just get there early? He certainly has gotten good reviews all over the boards.

[GW Phoenix]

His act is the kind of thing where people are wandering in and out all evening. Sometimes if you just say, "excuse me" once you get past some of the people crowding around the door you may find a seat.

[Mitzi_Muffin]

Perry Grant is great really lights up the room as he says the rest of the enterainment is boring (his words not mine) he has lots of following people usually stand until a seat becomes available. My husband would not sit near the front as Perry sometimes picks on member of the audience to switch on his balls. We realy enjoyed the classical pianist as well cannot remember his name but he was very good. Enjoy.