retired dude

in the words of ron white---"you can't fix stupid"

so glad that rccl will not repeat this cruise

we just got off of this sailing on the connie and the pizza was worse than red baron frozen..just sayin'

14 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

We booked the Connie for the same reasons as you. We are on Beyond for December 22 and then on Connie for March 11. It will be quite a difference from what we understand. We've been on Reflection twice and loved it and are looking forward to checking out these other two classes. With all the positive reviews of the Beyond, I hope we aren't disappointed with Connie. 

connie is usually more layback than beyond and far less "yutes" which we love..You just have to remember that the connie is 25 years old and in some areas she shows it, but overall it is  still our idea of classic cruising..We also sail alot on the rccl radiance class  ships out of tampa for the same reasons...No flying, and smaller more comfortable relaxing ships.. We just avoid any cruising in the summer, spring break, xmas, thanks giving and during hurricaine season....we are on the reflection next april and look forward to it a great deal ...life is good,we wish you well.

35 minutes ago, VintageCheap said:

Most of the time, what the industry calls a "Cruise Vacation" is called for.  I did a search for long cruises, 11/23, and then by price.  In my experience, the lines are pretty similar.  The frequent guest programs are useless, so once you get invited to the basic loyalty party, the rest of the perks are pretty boring.  The Constellation is a lovely ship, and we had fond memories of an amazing trip to the Med years ago.  

 

This 12 day run goes to some new countries and ports for us- Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica.    And requires only a short, cheap nonstop flight.  Is the right lunch or tour in a crowded, unwelcoming European port worth 4000 pounds of CO2 from jet fuel burned?  No. 

 

The recent negative reviews are a big draw for me.   And older, smaller ships are a plus.  Not a fan of lines, crowds or waiting.   Promenade decks, libraries, and some deck space are must haves.    Ships that have not been modernized - i.e. take out "useless" public spaces and add more cabins and extra charge features are more interesting to us. 

 

I see on Cruise Mapper the ship is docked.  We are in town, and have our luggage, passports and a shuttle reservation.  What can go wrong? 

all is good, we live close to the port and look forward to sailing on "connie" again today...1st time on her was 20 years ago and for many of the reasons that you stated, we like this size ship...Dont need water slides or other disney like features..just give me a ship that is comfortable and not huge..I know that the food will not be as good as in the past, but we will have a great cruise regardless.just blessed to be going....dress warm for sailaway the hi today is 60 and a northerly breeze....An adult beverage will help with the whole process......take care. 

On 11/18/2023 at 8:48 AM, georgiacat said:

I am considering a similar itinerary on the Constellation.  It will be our first Celebrity cruise.  How does the Aqua class compare with the usual verandah?

stick with the usual veranda. after 50 cruises we have found them to be suitable.

i was in the business years ago and the best watch for the wholesale $ is stuhrling...I have bought them in white gold, rose gold and yellow stainless for as low as $50 nib  and they are a very nice watch for that kind of $..Very dependable and the large 40-50 mm faces that most men want today....just sayin'

On 11/21/2023 at 8:58 AM, Homosassa said:

Pizza is not edible for some of us.  It depends on where  one is from and if Pizza Hut or Giorgio's is the standard one uses. 

 

The pasta station has such a heavy smell of garlic that for those of us brought up on Italian, not Italian-American, pasta and sauces, it is a no go.

the pizza and the pasta sauces were not good at all. the alfredo sauce even after  adding parmesan cheese to it was flavorless...The tomato sauces were worse...Now i know why i make all my italian food at home from scratch.

so shocked that anyone would get a bad meal in a place with the work sushi in it. We use that stuff for bait to catch a real fish and then cook it....lol

we always take a small box of crackers with us as we have gotten some strange looks from staff that we have asked for them in the buffet.....Usually got a shrug or a no we dont have any or yes we have stale ones....

on the local news just now, they said that she will not be on the cruise, it is just for her fans for whatever reason that is.

5 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

On the Constellation now and so far, they've not had ANY of the wines I've tried to order.  Their lists are irrelevant.  The Tuscan sommelier is checking in "the basement" for me tonight.  

another reason we dont do TA's

that happened to us the last time we sailed on the "connie"....the only notification was just like you found on the ad for wifi...So that night we only got a few wearing hats at dinner that advertised that they served on the nina the pinta  or the monitor or the merrimac...just leave the damn hats in the room while you go to dinner. We are proud that you served, but it is just rude to wear a hat while you are at dinner....very interesting reading on fb this morning about all of the new inexperienced staff currently onboard the "connie" and the passengers on that site bashing one another for their complaints of lines at dinner and what they perceived as bad service so far on the ta back to tampa..We have always had great experiences on this ship so this surprised me..We are not fans of TA's and we sure dont like sailing the first cruise that the ships do after coming back from europe, but we still love this ship.. hope the rest of the cruise is great....life is good

6 minutes ago, hcat said:

no such thing as overdressed lots of people like to dress up a bit...  but my spouse no longer drags a tux...

thank god that i read your post twice...First time i thought it said goes in drag......lol...and yes i sold my tuxes at the consignment shop years ago, but my wife and i still dress nicely every night. life is good.

On 10/31/2023 at 11:38 AM, CruzerDeb said:

Shooting for October because we have a month-long ski vacation in March, so I’d like to spread out my vacationing. I know that ports could be missed due to hurricanes. Hope for the best!

as a former travel consultant, we advised our clients to never sail the caribbean  in sept, oct or early nov. unless necessary....I also would not  sail out of san juan as i have done so too many times and i will tactfully leave it at that.....as a former mt adams couple, just trying to be helpful.

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

Or, for those who don't like bundled charges and prefer a la cart you can opt out. You simply swipe your seapass to enter any venue and get charged the entry fee.... plus 18% of course. That might reduce Schooner Bar trivia crowding.

trivia ? what is the difference between cruise ship trivia and watching latex paint dry? answer-none

6 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Check the app

we did, it was wrong. that is why we asked for an update, but thanks so much for your eloquent reply.

forgive me for butting in to this thread, but we sail on the "connie" in a couple of weeks and we were wondering what time the rendezvous lounge opens every day???? thanks much

thanks but, i was hoping to get a response from someone who has actually been on the "connie" recently and would have 1st hand knowledge.  thanks anyway for telling me that the app is inconsistent.....

The lounge used to open at 5 p.m. every night and the app now shows that it does not open until 7 p.m.It was our go to place every night for "elite" happy hour. thanks for any update...

11 minutes ago, neverlaysup said:

The employees are probably too scared to touch it for fear of damaging it! They would have to work 4 lifetimes on a cruise ship to pay for it!

I worked in a museum that housed one of his finest creations and we had a team that kept the  piece in pristine condition....Keeping the work in mint condition would not be a chore for housekeeping...lol

46 minutes ago, neverlaysup said:

Sadly, Dale Chihuly hasn't actually blown glass since around 1980ish. He directs the glass blowers in his studios and still makes a number of the designs. That being said, his studio, team of glass artists and designs are amazing.

We sailed on the connie several times and were pleased to see a nice example of dale's work onboard. I have been blessed to have met  dale and he is by far the best at what he did/does and he  is a class act from the word go. I was involved in the arts for many years and it was a treat talking with him..That said, when my wife and i looked at the piece on the "connie" the work was filthy and had water in some of the lower pieces of the work...It was so sad to see that the cruise line did not keep the piece in the condition that it deserves...Pieces like this have brought hundreds of thousands of dollars and you would think that celebrity would treat it better.....but of course this probably goes hand in hand in the cost cutting by the line...

3 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have been on 13 RCI cruises this year with 3 more booked this year. I had a great time on every cruise and look forward to cruising again next week. Based on my experience your “sneaking suspicion” couldn’t be further from the truth. Obviously the vast majority of people agree with me because RCI ships continue to sail at over 100% capacity. However, you are free to listen to people who are not happy with RCI for one reason or another. Just keep in mind this is a very small minority. 

the rangers are in that minority thanks goodness....lol

2 hours ago, robmtx said:

I'm just curious what people eat on a daily basis on land? The food on ships is so bad now that you cancel cruises over it? Or, maybe I should ask, what did you used to get on board, food wise? We've been on several cruises post pandemic, and yeah we've seen lots of changes, and yea the food may be different, but it's not anything that we'd personally give up on.  We've had some very good meals onboard, and some great customer service as well since they resumed sailing.

 

When we do land-based vacations, we have to randomly pick a restaurant and hope the 5 stars online are true.. and then three meals a day on land vacation is $200-$250.

 

yes as the proud son of a chef, we eat better every night than the food that we have gotten on our last few cruises on rccl and celebrity....We use choice quality meats as opposed to the select grade that the cruises now use and we use nothing but the freshest ingredients to prepare all of our meals.We have cruised  for over 30 years and i hope that we are qualified to tell the difference between then and now. I appreciate the efforts of the cruise staffs, but they are dealing with some corporate inflicted changes that are not going to go away. ..For those of us that have supported the industry we deserve to at least get a decent product for the prices that have gone up so much.....very simple equation, take care of those that got you where you're at.

1 hour ago, HicksRA said:

Just got back from a 16 day PC cruise on Radiance. Ate dinner in the dining room three times and gave up in disgust. The chefs are trying hard to make a good meal out of the crap they’re being given to work with but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. 

The Windjammer had the same stuff every day - chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, three different kinds of pizza and a pan of some kind of beef mixture and a pan of mystery fish. As usual, lots of pretty but taste free desserts. 
I mostly ate a hamburger for a late lunch and no dinner. Very disappointing except I didn’t gain a pound. 

The D+ bathroom amenities that used to be L’Occitane are now L’Motelle No. 6. 

The crew are still trying but are working with less and trying to keep up. 

 

Mr Liberty has cheapened Royal to Dollar Store status. 

so glad that we cancelled this cruise months ago...We had a sneaking suspicion that things would continue to decline in food and overall product and it sounds like we hit the nail on the head...as diamond members we are sad, but will find other vacation destinations or just go to our beach here in clearwater..life goes on.