andrea2609

I'm currently on board Constellation, and ordered 4 bottles already, asking them to keep each of them for the next day. Well, every single night was a nightmare as it took too long before they found our bottles...one evening I got annoyed as we already had started eating, while the wine had not bees served yet. It seems to me they cellar isn't well organized here.

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I assume the "fish soup" the OP is referring to is the cioppino. I've had it twice, once on Equinox and once on Silhouette, and loved it both times.

 

 

 

I wish every X ship had a Tuscan Grill.

"Cioppino", despite of its name, is actually an American dish.

Never had one here in Italy

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Last year we were booked on a RCCL cruise and tried to swap... nope! We lost our deposit.

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Hi Jim, Thanks for the great review. My wife mad I will sail on Constellation next August, from Venice. We really enjoyed Celebrity Equinox last year, and I was a bit unsure whether to book or not on a much smaller ship, this year....how would you compare Constellation, to bigger ships? One more thing: I'm a foodie (I'm Italian ; ) ), and I enjoyed the food at main dining room on Equinox, how's the quality and service, on Connie? (We won't eat at specialty restaurants)

Thanks a lot!

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I think your TA is confusing S class and M class. M class (Connie) does not have the balconies obstructed by lifeboats. They are located well below the floors of the Deck 6 balconies, although they obstruct the view if trying to look straight down. But this same view is obstructed on deck 7, 8, 9... Sometimes there is a minor obstruction by the location of the window washing equipment.

This is the view from the balcony of 6030 on Summit:

 

EM

 

Another view from 7049

 

Thanks, this was also very helpful.

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Usually the obstructed views have to do with one of the lifeboat or tenders in front of your balcony. The tenders (cat D) are much larger than the lifeboats (cat C) which block your view up to a higher level of your balcony but they mostly prevent you from looking straight down onto the water and you will still be able to see outward.

At least on the S Class, I would never hesitate to stay in one of these categories ... I actually knowingly choose one as they can save you a ton of money and I love being located on deck 6.

Just remember, if they assign your room and there are other rooms that are a bit more desirable within the same category, you may be able to switch to one of those.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

Hi cruisers, I just booked a cruise on Constellation, 9 days sailing from Venice in August.. CAN'T WAIT!

My DW and I chose a balcony stateroom but the only possible option was a "guaranteed balcony sea view" (I'm not sure if I'm translating this properly, but you got what I meant, right?)

My TA told me that the view could be obstructed (on the other hand, we could enjoy an upgrading, as well)...

Any of you had experienced this before, on this ship (or same class)?

How "obstructed " can be the view (category C and D, I was told)...

Any picture to share??

I would be glad to pay few more €€ and choose the stateroom,but unfortunately this seems to be the only option at the moment, to get a balcony room.....

Thanks for your help!!!!

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Champagne is a type of wine produced in the French region known as "Champagne".

Nobody can say it's not a wine.

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Champagne is a wine. Who says it's not??!!

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andrea2609...

 

Being Italian (I am of Italian decent), I suspect food is very important to you. I would go with Aqua class if a suite is too costly. This way you have two places to choose from every night to eat. You can dine in Blu, which we like, or you can go to the MDR. All you have to do is check with the Maitre'D in Blu should you want to eat in the MDR. They will take care of it for you. I don't know what ship you are looking at but I would go with either the Silhouette or the Reflection since only those two currently have the Lawn Club Grill. It is our favorite specialty restaurant because we like the food and dining al fresco, but you are still under a cover.

 

Regards,

 

Phil...........floridacruisers

Thanks. Yes, my dw and I really love food! But as I said, we really liked the dinners at MDR (in fact, we did not find necessary to try any of the specialty restaurants), so upgrading to Aqua wouldn't give us any more value, I guess. We did not enjoy the buffet, and I found its alternatives (for breakfast and lunch) a bit poor..

Thanks anyway!

Italian Cruiser

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Just one of the things I like about Celebrity!

 

 

 

To the poster that feels like Celebrity is a "Vegas-like" floating hotel. I have to disagree. The glitz and noise levels of Vegas aren't apparent on a Celebrity ship. And no smoking in cabins or public spaces.

What I noticed on board Equinox was a lot of people smoking on all open desks.

Italian Cruiser

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Celebrity does not use the PA system all the time as they do on RCCL, ex Bingo, Bingo, Bingo!!! And all the sales taking place. It is more quiet on Celebrity.

I don't agree. Bartenders were always pushing to sell drink package, or upgrade it, all the time. At the entrance of the buffet, there was a permanent desk with fellows trying to convince us to book specialty restaurant. I never felt this pressure while on Oasis, nor I heard bingo announcements.

Italian Cruiser

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Celebrity would be more honest if instead of saying "Modern Luxury" they said "we're a bit like one of those big fancy hotels in Vegas...but floating".

 

 

 

 

 

3000 people trying to use pools on a ship is always going to look like human soup.

 

 

 

It's very nice, we love it, but it isn't luxury.

You couldn't use better words!

Italian Cruiser

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Thanks so much for your insights. Reading through your review below - it seems like you compared RC Oasis to your Celebrity experience - expecting Celebrity to exceed it somehow strictly based on the term 'Modern Luxury". As others have noted, RC has been stepping up their game a bit, and so you will probably not see as many differences as you might have several years ago.

 

 

 

Since cabin was one thing you expected to be more luxurious - I wanted to point out that the AQ cabins are not really much different than any other veranda cabin on an X ship. They do have slight differences in the bathrooms and the spa access included - but since you really liked the MDR - I am not sure that having Blu as a restaurant option is going be the thing that gives you the modern luxury you are looking for.

Yes, you are probably right. But I was not looking for a luxury cruise, I just had a higher expectation due to their own advertising. Once again I did not dislike the cruise. I just was not expecting the mass and poor quality at the buffet, as well as the crowded pool decks...these were the main points that disappointed us.

Thanks

Italian Cruiser

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The facilities for the larger suites on Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class ships are now excellent. I was on Allure last year. Private sun deck with bar (if you want that sort of thing), reserved seating for shows, the suite lounge and Coastal Kitchen for meals. They've done a good job, but I felt it was a very different experience to Celebrity. Not worse, just different.

Is this also reserved for jr suite passengers?

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I want to thank you for starting your review with saying you're Italian as I read the entire thing in an Italian accent.

 

.

Hehe You should hear myself talking, then!

Anyway I was maybe not clear, as I did enjoyed the cruise. I might choose X again, but when considering the price, I'll probably compare it to RCCL, as I did not find any concrete difference.

Thanks

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Have you tried sail in AQ on Celebrity S class? We really enjoyed dining in Blu - breakfast and dinners every time we sailed in AQ. Food and service on our last TA on Silhouette was superb. Sailing in AQ would not solve the pool chair situation and public bathrooms.

Hi Isabella,

I will consider Aqua class option next time, if I'll choose X again. Thanks for the advice, I had read good reviews about AQ indeed.

Italian Cruiser

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I have sailed both RC and X, mostly Celebrity. 2 years ago I had the worth cruise on Liberty of the Sea and this year I 've tried Anthem of the Sea.

 

Without going into details, I still will prefer Celebrity, I just ignore " the modern luxury" slogan, since so many areas of Celebrity cruises are not up to the slogan in my opinion. Good food and service are very important to me, so except the specialty restaurants, food on Anthem was just OK. I have 4 cruises booked on Equinox and I hope I would not be disappointed after sailing in December. I think Princess is something between RC and Celebrity.

 

But if you ask 100 people - you will get 100 opinions.

Thanks Isabella

You said it right, if I'll ask 100 people, I'll have 100 different opinions: to me, this clearly means they're quite the same...

To me, the key points on a cruise are:

1. Food quality

2. Space and availability of chairs on any deck.

My wife is pushing me to book again on Oasis class, as these two demands are (in our opinion) fulfilled....but I will go on studying all threads on Equinox sub forum, as I liked it anyway. I enjoyed the different kind of passengers/public this time, do you have any idea whether is this due to the itinerary, or the cruise line?

Italian Cruiser

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I just read your text in another post and I was about to reply to you [emoji846]

I'm now enjoining Barcelona for few days, I hope you're doing the same!

I agree on what you just wrote in the other threads, toilets were not that clean, as well!

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"Modern Luxury" is a term that Celebrity coined that maybe isn't well defined for the non-US passenger.

 

 

 

Personally, I'm not sure what that term really defines. But it's not glitz, it's not sparkle, and in some venues, not elegance.

 

 

 

But I like the design of Celebrity ships. I just care for the term "Modern Luxury".

 

 

 

It's all about perception...

I agree it's all about perception, but I think that when the term "luxury" is used, people should expect not only higher prices, but also higher comfort or more space per passenger, in the ship. Anyway, we actually enjoyed the cruise, the point is I couldn't see a big (or any) difference compared to the other cruise line.

Thanks

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Thanks for your thoughts. I so agree with you regarding the modern luxury advertising versus the reality of the product. Celebrity has become a mass market cruise yearning to be something else. But not willing to put in the work. For instance, we had the premium beverage package and my husband asked for two (small) waters after exercising. They told him no and to go to the pool deck to get the other water. We were in northern Iceland. The pool bar was closed. We are transitioning over to Regent and also like Oceania. It's too bad because Celebrity had some potential.

Thanks, I'll consider your advice!

Italian Cruiser

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Hi all

This morning my DW and I disembarked from a 9 days cruise on west med.

This was our first cruise with X, after one with MSC (Musica, west med) and one with RCCL (Oasis, eastern Caribbean). I'm Italian, she's Brazilian, we live in Venice/Italy.

I'm writing this post to let you know my/our opinions on X, mainly compared to RCCL. We will be soon booking next year's cruise, so I will need your comments and feedbacks as were a bit uncertain, at this point. We will would choose between RCCL, X, and/or eventually a line such as Princess or HAL.

So, here I go:

Were we happy about this cruise? Yes.

Did it meet our expectations? No.

I try to explain: we enjoyed the food, the atmosphere and so on, but we were expecting more "luxury " after all the advertising of "modern luxury" that Celebrity spread in all their advs and website etc.

Some brief details:

Food and restaurant: this was excellent in MDR (we didn't try any specialty restaurant), but we did NOT like the buffet for breakfast and lunch, not the too few options to eat elsewhere w/o being charged. The buffet restaurant was always crowded and, although we never actually had a problem finding a table, the food isles were really too small and quality just "quite ok", if not so and so. The decoration of the buffet is in our opinion is really low end, worse than we found in Oasis or even MSC. I was expecting a more "modern luxury" place where to eat good food and relax. Wasn't like that. The prices for drinks are almost the only Luxury thing we noticed through all the ships, they are very expensive.

MDR, as I said really met our high expectations (we both are fine food lovers), and the environment and decor was really nice and classy. Service was excellent, our waiter Elbert has been really nice and made any wish come true. MDR food was way better than MSC, but same level of Oasis, in our opinion.

Stateroom: we stayed in a standard balcony room: this was the exact copy of Oasis balcony room! How can RCCL and X differentiate their products-Royal being more "fun and mass market", and X being more high end market, if their rooms are exactly the same??? This confused me a lot.

Pools and decks: of course any ship would loose against Oasis and her sisters, but in my opinion this was way disappointing for us: the chairs are too close each others (you're always touching your neighbor) and too few in number, thus this turned the cruise to look more chip than high end, actually....the pool size is ridiculous and in my honest opinion, the layout could be better: the solarium is amazing but it's too hot and humid, so nobody was really staying there. The lawn club as well, is elegant and unique but at the end people prefer to stay on the other more "normal" sun decks and pools, so the pool area was ALWAYS overcrowded.

People: the public is totally different than we found in Oasis (very few kids and children, for instance, but not only that): is this the "typical" profile of X Cruisers, or was this because this was a European itinerary?

We enjoyed the service and all the attendants, they all seem happy to serve their clients. Entertainment was funny and the shows amazing, in our opinion.

I'll wait for your feedback, my main question being the following:

is X better than Royal, or just about the same? I mean, maybe I only know Oasis and this is a bit different in standard than other RCCL ships, or is it just bigger?

What should I expect, eventually, from Princess or HAL, or any other cruise line you have experienced?

Thanks a lot for your patience, if you read my post.

Italian Cruiser

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Hi Everyone,

 

 

 

Here's a video from Celebrity's Twitter feed, Celebrating the Birthday of Celebrity Equinox. Enjoy !

 

 

 

. Note : Click on the video, to enable the sound.

 

 

 

Happy 7th Birthday Equinox. Best wishes to the Officers & Crew !

I'm on board now, and I can tell you that the birthday party on the pool deck (still ongoing) was really nice!

You are correct, 1 bottle per each - 2 per stateroom.

 

 

 

Celebrity suggests that wine being brought on at embarkation be in your carry on luggage. Aside from a possible mishap by placing in the luggage, it may delay delivery of your luggage. The luggage is x-rayed and the bottles in the luggage can result in you having to visit the naughty room to claim your luggage.

 

 

 

If you take the wine you bring on board to the dining room or bar there is a corkage fee; I believe $25 per bottle.

Thanks a lot. I thought (I was hoping) there was no corkage fee, same as RCCL...

Italian Cruiser

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Hi all

I'll be sailing on Equinox in two days, my first cruise with X.

Can we (my DW and I) take one bottle each, on board , in our checked in suitcases?

Do they apply a cork fee at MDR?

Any of you ever tried to bring on board more than one bottle each....?

Thanx a lot

Italian Cruiser

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