Constellation...good or bad?

[swigso]

Just got off Constellation a few weeks ago after a Panama Canal cruise.

We were in a CC cabin and it was fine. Plenty of storage. Cabin steward was great! Canapes weren't really worth eating. Only complaint I have is the refrigerator isn't cold at all.

This was my first X cruise, but I'm already a fan and making plans for another cruise.

Hi All

Saw a tip to make the fridge work better. Open the cupboard door and

jam it so that it stays open.

It seems this allows better airflow and means the fridge stays cooler.

[Ruthk]

We just came home (Jan.29/11) from a 2 wk. southern Caribbean sailing and re-fell in love with the Constellation. I am sure in the next set of ratings she will be back to #1 in the large ship category. The staff was better than excellent, the food was so good in the main dining room that we saw no need to go to the alternative restaurants. The flow of the ship is wonderful with all the new changes. The martini bar was well used on our sailing. Everyone got along very well and it was just a wonderful cruise. We booked again for next January. The only thing I would ask for was more live music. The Connie use to have a good band at the pool and they played for quite a while every day. Now they had one fellow with a steel drum and it wasn't very consistant. The fellow that sang at the bar at the back of deck 10 also could have sang more and longer. There should be music playing somewhere on the ship all day long. I think it is part of cut backs, but music puts people in a party mood and maybe Celebrity would get more people buying drinks and enjoying more revenues. Perry was there at Michael's Club and he was in fine form - what a following he has and the guests just love him.

The captain was very approachable and not full of himself. He has a wonderful staff around him and he is very proud of the positive changes on the ship. I miss the Connie already - especially with this huge storm we are suppose to get in the next couple of days.

Enjoy the Connie - she is a beauty not to be missed.

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

[ssCRUISERS]

We just came home (Jan.29/11) from a 2 wk. southern Caribbean sailing and re-fell in love with the Constellation. I am sure in the next set of ratings she will be back to #1 in the large ship category. The staff was better than excellent, the food was so good in the main dining room that we saw no need to go to the alternative restaurants. The flow of the ship is wonderful with all the new changes. The martini bar was well used on our sailing. Everyone got along very well and it was just a wonderful cruise. We booked again for next January. The only thing I would ask for was more live music. The Connie use to have a good band at the pool and they played for quite a while every day. Now they had one fellow with a steel drum and it wasn't very consistant. The fellow that sang at the bar at the back of deck 10 also could have sang more and longer. There should be music playing somewhere on the ship all day long. I think it is part of cut backs, but music puts people in a party mood and maybe Celebrity would get more people buying drinks and enjoying more revenues. Perry was there at Michael's Club and he was in fine form - what a following he has and the guests just love him.

The captain was very approachable and not full of himself. He has a wonderful staff around him and he is very proud of the positive changes on the ship. I miss the Connie already - especially with this huge storm we are suppose to get in the next couple of days.

Enjoy the Connie - she is a beauty not to be missed.

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

 

I was on the same cruise and would have to echo your comments except for the dining room food quality. We have been solely cruising Celebrity since 2005 and have seen the food slowly declining each year.

This year it was not at all up to the Celebrity standard that we have enjoyed in the past. Fish dishes were fishy, beef cuts were tough. You would need a chain saw to cut it, even veal chops served pretty rare were poor quality and chewy. This was our table of 6 experiences.

Only 2 main dishes in 14 days were good to excellent Lamb Shank and Osco Boco.

I’m curious to know what type of dinning you did select, early, late?

It was a big surprise to us in an otherwise excellent cruise.

I did feel however that the other venues Spa café, outside grill, and the buffet which we normally don’t do too much were excellent for breakfast, and looked good and heard was good for dinner.

I really hope that our waiter was just grabbing the wrong plates each night because dinner in the dining room has always been the highlight.

We are not at all hard to please and are booked back on the Connie next year hopping this one was a fluke.

[bob12]

Well I am going to chime in on the quality of the food on the Constellation. I just rtd. from 2 weeks on her andfor the first time we did Select Dining. The select dining did give us licence to eat at the buffet a couple of evenings as there was no one in the dining room waiting for us. This turned out to be the food highlight of the cruise.

 

Buffet area was very quiet in the evening (very plesant). The food choices were excellent. Great variety of Sushi every night and my personal favorite; excellent curries that changed every night. (I spoke with the head chef for the buffet area - He is from India and is very proud of the curries - nuf said)

 

The "classic" menu items were also available; ie. you could get a made to order steak with all the fixings.

 

1/2 carafe's (355 ml) of house wine were sold for $9.95.

 

Lots of officers and staff eat at the buffet every night.

 

If you are sailing on this ship in the next while it is worth checking out dinner at the buffet.

 

Enjoy

Bob

[hildacloake]

We were just on the Connie in Dec '10. As long as you don't go with great expectations, you'll love it! It just got a "face lift" but it's still an old ship. The food was not the greatest for us, but the itinerary is hard to beat. Deep down, we really did enjoy the cruise, and hope you will too. :)

[ramman]

Don't buy into the hype! The Constellation is a lousy ship. I cannot for the life of me figure out how they manage to fill her and why she is still in service. Our cruise on her two years ago was so bad we are shelling out the big bucks to sail on her again in March solely to confirm the ship is as awful as I recall.

 

(Please note: the above post utilizes a language skill known as "sarcasm".)

 

I agree...which is why after three cruises on the Constellation, we have two more booked, Feb 2011 and Feb 2012...just to make sure that it is still as lousy as we remember it.

[HubbieO]

Hi All

Saw a tip to make the fridge work better. Open the cupboard door and

jam it so that it stays open.

It seems this allows better airflow and means the fridge stays cooler.

 

I saw this tip before my cruise and tried it, but it didn't seem to help.

[shelbird]

We just came home (Jan.29/11) from a 2 wk. southern Caribbean sailing and re-fell in love with the Constellation. I am sure in the next set of ratings she will be back to #1 in the large ship category. The staff was better than excellent, the food was so good in the main dining room that we saw no need to go to the alternative restaurants. The flow of the ship is wonderful with all the new changes. The martini bar was well used on our sailing. Everyone got along very well and it was just a wonderful cruise. We booked again for next January. The only thing I would ask for was more live music. The Connie use to have a good band at the pool and they played for quite a while every day. Now they had one fellow with a steel drum and it wasn't very consistant. The fellow that sang at the bar at the back of deck 10 also could have sang more and longer. There should be music playing somewhere on the ship all day long. I think it is part of cut backs, but music puts people in a party mood and maybe Celebrity would get more people buying drinks and enjoying more revenues. Perry was there at Michael's Club and he was in fine form - what a following he has and the guests just love him.

The captain was very approachable and not full of himself. He has a wonderful staff around him and he is very proud of the positive changes on the ship. I miss the Connie already - especially with this huge storm we are suppose to get in the next couple of days.

Enjoy the Connie - she is a beauty not to be missed.

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

 

I pretty much agree with everything you stated. We were in early seating and one party at our table ordered the everyday steak nightly and had no complaints. I must say it didn't look too appetizing to me, very thin, and she ordered it well done! The filet, double cut sirloin and Mediterranian sirloin were excellent.

 

We did go to the buffet one evening and loved the quiet atmosphere. I can't comment on the food as I wasn't that hungry and just picked. I enjoyed Bistro on 5 but would make it breakfast or lunch next time.

 

The steel drum player by the pool needs to be thrown overboard. One couldn't hear oneself think let alone relax and read a book or nap.

 

Don Adamson, guitar player in the sunset bar was fabulous. I too wish his hours were expanded.

 

All staff I encountered were amazing and all service above and beyond.

 

Perry is leaving for vacation Jan. 14, 2012, and is off for a month :( so I've rebooked from the Jan. 14th sailing to the Feb. 25th sailing and as a result I am losing my 2 catagory upgrade for booking onboard but retaining my $300 OBC. I've spoken to 2 Celebrity reps to no avail and have now transferred my booking to a TA and the additional OBC will more than make up for it. :)

[jaybird from SC]

:)We are just off the Constellation this past Saturday (Jan. 29, 2011) and had no complaints. I'm sure if you talk to 100 people you'll get a lot of different answers but we were very happy with the ship. The crew and staff couldn't have been more attentive and helpful. The food is always an important subject for everyone but then again you get mixed answers. Sometimes it's just what you wanted and then again it isn't but NOBODY on the ship goes hungry-that I can guarantee. We had a great cruise and loved the Southern Caribbean ports and we thought the ship was beautiful. Don't worry just go and enjoy...

[ssCRUISERS]

I pretty much agree with everything you stated. We were in early seating and one party at our table ordered the everyday steak nightly and had no complaints. I must say it didn't look too appetizing to me, very thin, and she ordered it well done! The filet, double cut sirloin and Mediterranian sirloin were excellent.

 

We did go to the buffet one evening and loved the quiet atmosphere. I can't comment on the food as I wasn't that hungry and just picked. I enjoyed Bistro on 5 but would make it breakfast or lunch next time.

 

The steel drum player by the pool needs to be thrown overboard. One couldn't hear oneself think let alone relax and read a book or nap.

 

Don Adamson, guitar player in the sunset bar was fabulous. I too wish his hours were expanded.

 

All staff I encountered were amazing and all service above and beyond.

 

Perry is leaving for vacation Jan. 14, 2012, and is off for a month :( so I've rebooked from the Jan. 14th sailing to the Feb. 25th sailing and as a result I am losing my 2 catagory upgrade for booking onboard but retaining my $300 OBC. I've spoken to 2 Celebrity reps to no avail and have now transferred my booking to a TA and the additional OBC will more than make up for it. :)

 

You would think we were eating in a different dining room. Those 3 beef dishes were the poor cuts of beef at our table. Michele I know you ate early seating wondering what seating ruthk did, we had late.

Maybe we should have had 2 martinis before dinner :rolleyes:

You will have plenty of food no matter we just had a poor dining room experience this trip, in an otherwise excellent trip.

[mike30542]

 

 

 

1/2 carafe's (355 ml) of house wine were sold for $9.95.

 

This sounds like a good deal.

Anyone know if it is available in MDR or is it limited to the buffet?

[Ruthk]

Our dinner seating was the 8:30 seating and we were table 441 - in the middle of the room. I have never had a more attentive maitre'd than Luciana - she was worth her weight in gold - and we had excellent wait staff. The food - maybe we were all lucky - but all 6 of us thought the food was excellent. The last time I sailed the Connie, about 5 yrs. ago, I left a bit disappointed with the food and this time there wasn't one dish I could fault. We mostly had the seafood dishes, but our wait staff would also give our table several dishes for the table to share which was wonderful. We never had a tough steak, everyone raved about the chicken being tasty, and I loved their risotto. I am not a lamb lover but the gentleman next to me ate lamb every chance he got and the portions were huge and he seemed to have no complaints. On the lobster tail night I am usually disappointed with the taste of their lobster, but on this sailing the lobster was good. Our waiter also brought us several filet mignons to share with the lobster and then brought more lobster for the table. Like I said - everything was excellent - and we were all very happy, with full bellies after every dinner. We were usually the last table to leave the dining room as our table had fun conversations and stories to tell and we all became fast friends. It was just one of those sailings where it all jelled into a wonderful vacation, and now it has left us with great memories.

 

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

[ssCRUISERS]

Our dinner seating was the 8:30 seating and we were table 441 - in the middle of the room. I have never had a more attentive maitre'd than Luciana - she was worth her weight in gold - and we had excellent wait staff. The food - maybe we were all lucky - but all 6 of us thought the food was excellent. The last time I sailed the Connie, about 5 yrs. ago, I left a bit disappointed with the food and this time there wasn't one dish I could fault. We mostly had the seafood dishes, but our wait staff would also give our table several dishes for the table to share which was wonderful. We never had a tough steak, everyone raved about the chicken being tasty, and I loved their risotto. I am not a lamb lover but the gentleman next to me ate lamb every chance he got and the portions were huge and he seemed to have no complaints. On the lobster tail night I am usually disappointed with the taste of their lobster, but on this sailing the lobster was good. Our waiter also brought us several filet mignons to share with the lobster and then brought more lobster for the table. Like I said - everything was excellent - and we were all very happy, with full bellies after every dinner. We were usually the last table to leave the dining room as our table had fun conversations and stories to tell and we all became fast friends. It was just one of those sailings where it all jelled into a wonderful vacation, and now it has left us with great memories.

 

Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.[/quote

 

Wow! That sounds like the Celebrity I have come accustomed to.

I will keep the faith for our next cruise on Connie.

[shelbird]

I have never had a more attentive maitre'd than Luciana - she was worth her weight in gold - and Ruthk,

St. Catharines, Ontario,

Canada.

 

 

We also had the pleasure of interacting with Luciana in the Buffet and I can't agree with you more. :)

[shelbird]

You would think we were eating in a different dining room. Those 3 beef dishes were the poor cuts of beef at our table. Michele I know you ate early seating wondering what seating ruthk did, we had late.

Maybe we should have had 2 martinis before dinner :rolleyes:

You will have plenty of food no matter we just had a poor dining room experience this trip, in an otherwise excellent trip.

 

Scott, I usually had one before dinner and carried a 2nd into the dining room. One night I did have 2 prior and that's probably the night I ordered and raved about the beef cheeks.:confused:

 

I know the last night DH and I each had prime rib and mine was tender and he could hardly cut his. I also heard some returned the filet and their 2nd was much better. The double sirloin cuts were new to the chefs, we were told by Jan, our maitre'd, and they were still adjusting to them. :confused:

[nanpar]

We are also booked on the Connie for April 9, and looking forward to everything. We sailed on the Solstice (transatlantic) in Dec. 09 and it was great. I believe we will find the Connie to be a dream vacation!

[ILVMM]

We cruised Constellation back to back prior to the renovations in February and again in Nov-Dec.

 

The ship looks wonderful but some parts don't seem to work quite as well as the designers intended. The new martini bar looks nice but it does not offer the wonderful seating arrangements of the former location. The new wine bar has not caught on and I think it will not last in its present configuration. The Revelations night club is beautiful.

 

I was disappointed in the inconsistency of service and food preparation on our latest voyage. Fortunately this is an area that can be fixed with some more quality control. Constellation is our favourite Celebrity ship and this weekend we will move into our Constellation condo for the next two months.

 

The ship is beautiful, the itinerary can't be beat and you won't go hungry.

 

Hey! Constellation Condo sounds wonderful. It's my fav Celebrity ship, too. We'll be sailing on 2/26 and I hope to meet you!

 

Can you tell me - - what's up with the WiFi? expensive? works well? I can't seem to get a definitive answer. Thanks much...and

 

smooth sailings!

[SUZYHOFF]

Just off a Princess ship and would like to return to Celebrity, our first choice. However, I need to be GF and Princess really catered to my needs. Does anyone have first hand experience with special needs diets on the Constellation? We sailed on her 3 times a number of years ago, but that was before my problem... Help! We want to come back!

[Michidoeme]

We are also looking at the Constellation. Can someone tell me how the beds are. We were on Equinox and Eclipse and slept extremely well. We hope the beds are comparable. How is the bathroom, do they still have a shower curtain ?

[excitedofharpenden]

I believe the mattresses were changed last Spring when Constellation was refurbished and has the same mattresses as they have on Equinox/Eclipse. The shower curtains are still there, but new.

 

Phil

[runnerandme]

We are also on the April 9th sailing. I am sure you will get varied responses. I have yet to be on a dissapointing Celebrity cruise. We liked Summit better than Infinity, but had a great time on all. Food is so subjective. I just hope they have the wonderful Dover sole. We are looking forward to the "new" Constellation.

 

Nanpar and Rocketgirl, hope to see you onboard. We will be the sisters with my daughter in a stroller type wheelchair..:)

 

 

Connie

[C 2 C]

Xellent will be back..

 

Xtraordinary xperience so far... Except for slow internet and chair hogs this is as close to perfection as cruising gets

[excitedofharpenden]

That's good to hear Arno. Enjoy the rest of your time on Constellation:cool:

 

Phil

[jaybird from SC]

Don't buy into the hype! The Constellation is a lousy ship. I cannot for the life of me figure out how they manage to fill her and why she is still in service. Our cruise on her two years ago was so bad we are shelling out the big bucks to sail on her again in March solely to confirm the ship is as awful as I recall.

 

 

 

 

 

(Please note: the above post utilizes a language skill known as "sarcasm".)

Aw....You'll be disappointed because it is now a beautiful ship. Enjoy your cruise in spite of it....

[Proud Nana]

You would think we were eating in a different dining room. Those 3 beef dishes were the poor cuts of beef at our table. Michele I know you ate early seating wondering what seating ruthk did, we had late.

Maybe we should have had 2 martinis before dinner :rolleyes:

You will have plenty of food no matter we just had a poor dining room experience this trip, in an otherwise excellent trip.

 

Ruth had early seating...with her BFF and their hubbies! Some of the beef was good...some okay. I was a little disappointed in the fish. the first night mine was dry. I NEVER went hungry! Loved, loved, loved the Cinnamon Ice Cream during the day...topped off with almonds, it was the best! I usually don't bother with ice cream!