June 25th Constellation Norwegian Fjords (Long with pictures)

[Syrreal]

After returning back to the trail base, we were given coffee and several types of cake before boarding the bus at 1pm, my new friends boarding a different number bus back to the ship. I have to admit that I do enjoy Norwegian Coffee. It’s strong and rich, not as much as Brazilian Coffee, but might be a third place contender behind Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee.

 

The drive back was very pleasant. I ended up droning out the guide and just enjoying the beautiful drive back.

 

I didn’t get a chance to walk around Olden because I went to care for C, so I can’t comment on the town itself.

 

I walked back on board, being recognized by the crew already (one of the perks of having a very uncommon name), and stopped at Cafe al Bacio to grab some nice hot tea for C. I loved that the Cafe had so many different teas to choose from. On the way back to the room I ran into Bernard and chit chatted and I mentioned that Chris wasn’t feeling well. He asked what kind of sick it was and I said a fever and a sore throat and Bernard offered to get him some soup and some honey for the tea as well as some more tea in case he wanted more.

 

C was scheduled to get some more acupuncture so he called down to see if he should still go get it or stay in the room. Grace, the acupuncture lady, told him to still come down. After he left I took up my usual spot on the lounger to watch the sea go by and listen to my book.

 

When he came back we made our way up to the spa where Grace had hooked him up with one of those huge spa bubble baths with herbs that soothe the muscles. For Free!

 

We ordered room service that night and C’s fever broke. He was asleep early and I went for a walk around the ship. I walked up to deck 11 and then up to the front of the ship where the glass wall is and watched us glide through the waves.

 

When I lay down in bed later, I was lulled to sleep with the gentle rolling of the waves.

[Syrreal]

Here is the picture of the farm that just had the link on the post above. Couldn't edit

[TeaBag]

Your photography is wonderful as is your review. Thank you for posting.

[dillie]

Im following your review as im going on the constellation in september. Do you have any photos or reviews of the ship itself. Your photos are amazing very jealous!!

 

Dillie

[Syrreal]

Terry, it'll be a while before we head up that way back to Jungle Jims. 4 months or so at least. That store is way too dangerous with stuff to try and we always end up spending more than we planned.

 

Dillie, I have a couple of pictures of the interior of the ship, but not many. I'll put them on the next post since I was trying to put in 4 but the system is telling me I have 9. When walking about most of the time I only carried my sea pass card :)

I thought the ship was beautiful, but you could tell her age in spots. Mainly areas where she was exposed to the elements all the time. There was a pipe that was above our balcony that you could see had rust on it and mainly it was just some cosmetic things on the outside of the ship. I didn't find the same to be true of the inside. It was very clean, very well maintained, and pretty much sparkly. In fact, it was always getting cleaned. I can't say anything negative at all about the staff. They were always friendly and helpful. There was one man that was always greeting and handing out the purell at the buffet every morning who may have been the most energetic morning person ever. That is a man who loves his job! He was always super friendly and just made me smile every single morning I saw him and both DH and I looked forward to seeing him every day. :)

 

I'll check if DH got some photos of the ship with his camera :)

 

We didn't really use many of the ships areas besides food and spa locations LOL

I can't comment much on the casino as I only ever walked through it when our tour groups were called. I also didn't do much drinking so the bars weren't really my focus. I did think the martini bar was pretty cool :) We spent a few minutes at the Cellarmasters bar/table area on the last night and I thought that was a really neat space.

I saw one of the shows, a musical based on popular music that included everything from Cindy Lauper to Beyonce's All the Single Ladies. It was kind of a play on Alice in Wonderland meets Cinderella and was weird but entertaining. LOL! I wish they would do an actual Bway show like I've read about on some other ships, but that's just me.

 

Do you have any specific questions? It might be easier for me to focus an answer that way. :)

[Syrreal]

Ah, it was the smilies that put me over. Anyway, here are the pics I have of inside the ship-->

 

Here is one from Cafe al Bacio

 

 

This one if of the ceiling by the central stairs on the 7th floor (I know, a little weird but I thought the blue was very pretty)

 

 

The T-pool area (DH was not amused with me taking his pic in the pool) LOL

 

View of the helipad from up top

Edited July 18, 2012 by Syrreal

[lilianani]

Shortly after passing the trailhead I heard the familiar sounds of Brazilian Portuguese. At first, being where I was, I thought I was hallucinating and just hearing Portugal Portuguese, but no, it was the sounds of my mother country. Being Brazilian myself, I walked up and started a conversation with these strangers, who very quickly were strangers no more.

 

My new friends were from Rio and were staying in two of the Celebrity Suites. They were celebrating the 45th birthday of one of the ladies and having a grand time. They said the suites were very well appointed and spacious. The ship is going to go into refurb and these same suites will be given a balcony which will make them even cooler in my book.

 

 

Wasn't it a fantastic cruise! We were there too - on the same hike to the Glacier, it was an amazingly beautiful walk. Loving your review, it's great to re-live the cruise.

 

I'm working through processing my photos at the moment and loving every moment.

 

I know the two Brazilian couples! We made friends with them and spent many a happy hour with them at the Martini Bar - they did indeed have a grand time.

 

Can't wait to read the rest!

[Syrreal]

Yes! That was the same group! DH was never feeling well enough to hit the martini bar by happy hour time so we skipped out but we ran into them pretty much everywhere.

[dillie]

Terry, it'll be a while before we head up that way back to Jungle Jims. 4 months or so at least. That store is way too dangerous with stuff to try and we always end up spending more than we planned.

 

Dillie, I have a couple of pictures of the interior of the ship, but not many. I'll put them on the next post since I was trying to put in 4 but the system is telling me I have 9. When walking about most of the time I only carried my sea pass card :)

I thought the ship was beautiful, but you could tell her age in spots. Mainly areas where she was exposed to the elements all the time. There was a pipe that was above our balcony that you could see had rust on it and mainly it was just some cosmetic things on the outside of the ship. I didn't find the same to be true of the inside. It was very clean, very well maintained, and pretty much sparkly. In fact, it was always getting cleaned. I can't say anything negative at all about the staff. They were always friendly and helpful. There was one man that was always greeting and handing out the purell at the buffet every morning who may have been the most energetic morning person ever. That is a man who loves his job! He was always super friendly and just made me smile every single morning I saw him and both DH and I looked forward to seeing him every day. :)

 

I'll check if DH got some photos of the ship with his camera :)

 

We didn't really use many of the ships areas besides food and spa locations LOL

I can't comment much on the casino as I only ever walked through it when our tour groups were called. I also didn't do much drinking so the bars weren't really my focus. I did think the martini bar was pretty cool :) We spent a few minutes at the Cellarmasters bar/table area on the last night and I thought that was a really neat space.

I saw one of the shows, a musical based on popular music that included everything from Cindy Lauper to Beyonce's All the Single Ladies. It was kind of a play on Alice in Wonderland meets Cinderella and was weird but entertaining. LOL! I wish they would do an actual Bway show like I've read about on some other ships, but that's just me.

 

Do you have any specific questions? It might be easier for me to focus an answer that way. :)

 

I cannot wait to go on the constellation its my first time on celebrity. Thanks so much for posting photos. Im not sure if you noticed but i use a wheelchair do you think all places onboard are suitable?. from what i`ve read its very good. Any photos will be great i just love looking at photos. Makes me more excited lol dillie

[Syrreal]

Haven't been getting home till late the past 2 nights. Will hopefully get to post the next installment tomorrow :)

 

Dillie- I don't remember any spot that wasn't wheelchair accessible. I know other people posting here have been on the Constellation more than my one time and can verify this, but I'm pretty positive that there was access everywhere.

[brazilgirl]

Prazer! Estou adorando seu relato....

 

Just thought I would say hi in Portuguese. Great review. We'll be going to Norway next July.

 

I would love to hear more about The Toren , as we have booked our post cruise stay there. Were the rooms nice? And the location?

 

Tchau!

Kim

[Syrreal]

Kim, Obrigado! Estou gostando muito escrever :) We loved The Toren. We really wished that they had availability for the night we returned to Amsterdam, but they didn't. The room was very nice, not huge, but we had space for everything. The bathroom was 1/2 the size of the bedroom and had a very lovely 2 person tub that was just what a body needed after a long overnight flight. We were actually so tired that we didn't even remember to take pictures of the hotel or the room.

The location was perfect for us. It's not in the middle of the touristy area, but a short walk to everywhere. It's near the Anne Frank museum, but we didn't go there. It's also near the pancake bakery and about a 10 minutes or less walk to Dam Square.

[Syrreal]

C was starting to feel better this morning so when the ship docked in Molde, we went through our morning routine (breakfast, pool, sauna) and then were off to explore the town. None of the tours that were offered that day really called to us. The only one that really did was hiking Mt. Varden, but we had decided not to take it because we would have both hiked the day before to the glacier. Even if we had decided to do it, C would have had to sit out of it again because, even feeling better, a strenuous hike is not the way to heal.

 

So, we walked off the ship and just started walking along the streets of Molde. We walked into a little shopping mall a few blocks from the port. We picked out a little toy where you build a battery powered windmill for Enzi and noticed that many of the toys are the same as they are here. They have Thomas, and Bob the Builder, and Legos, and Disney too.

 

So, here is the part where I have the task of describing a not so nice event. C and I were walking to the restrooms in this little mall and just before we reach the door to the men’s room and I am about to walk the three extra feet to the ladies’ room, this old man (I would have placed him in the mid 70’s) literally pushes me out of the way and trips me so that he can get into the men’s room. I manage to just barely catch my footing again and end up kicking his foot in the process. I keep going on my way and C and I separate into our respective bathrooms. I’m thinking that the man really needed to go. Cause, y’know, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Plus, I know that with age there are some things that are more urgent than when one is younger.

 

When C and I meet back up, he lets me know just how wrong I was in this line of thinking. All the man, who is now extremely rude and obnoxious to me given my new found information, did was wash his hands and walk back out. He didn’t even use the facilities! I don’t care if you have just finished touching poop, covered in vomit, with a side of bloody phlegm; you can wait an extra 3 seconds to go wash your hands instead of almost causing injury to two people. This is behavior that Mr. Rude would have yelled at his grandchildren about had they been the ones doing it. Hypocritical db.

 

Anyway…

 

Went back to the little coffee shop on the first floor of the mall and got myself what was probably the least expensive thing I purchased on this entire trip- Skolebrød (School bread). This pastry, a sweet bread roll with custard in the middle and coconut on top cost me all of 16K, or just under $3. Less than getting a pastry at Starbucks. The bread was still warm and I wasn’t about to wait till I got back on the ship to eat it, so street food it was.

 

 

 

After a little bit of shopping, where C indulged in his weakness, backpacks; this one in particular not only was lightweight, but also had a viking man’s head embroidered on it. There was no question it was going to go home with us. We decided to start looking around for some lunch. Sure, we could return to the ship and eat there, but we both still wanted to be out for a while and knew that whenever we got back to the boat, we wouldn’t be going back out.

 

We found a little place, somewhere between a stand and an actual building on a little square close to the water where we both got a donner kebab and a drink. Once we were finished with lunch, which neither one of use could actually finish since the pita sandwiches were very well filled, C was getting weary of being out and about so we made our way back.

 

Our regular stop at Cafe al Bacio brought some nice and warming hot chocolate and tea.

 

Back in our stateroom, we watched Pilot Guides

 

on TDN (which we were calling the db network since, particularly the male guides were in full d-nugget force) until a nap was in C’s near future.

 

That evening, I watched the world go by.

 

Islands and mountains as we left Molde

 

A cruise ship that was in the distance. I have no idea what line it belongs to

 

After the all day rain, a rainbow

[Syrreal]

A few random pictures->

 

Our hallway (deck 8) That's DH's shadow all the way at the end.

 

Deck and loungers

 

Constellation's wake

 

Me with our awesome steward, Bernard.

[c-legs]

THANK YOU !!

Nice review. Brings back memories of teh same ( just about) voyage we sailed on Connie last July. TREMENDOUS itinerary.

 

Cheers

 

p.s did you try Bistro on 5 ??? That's a little gem of a place....

[Adammara]

Enjoying your reports and pictures, we go on Connie in September, our first cruise on a M class ship, after 7 on S class.

 

The cruise liner, by the colour of the funnel is probally a P&O one, Oriana or Aurora, who are very similar. (Not as good as Celebrity!)

 

Richard

[iandjm]

C was starting to feel better this morning so when the ship docked in Molde, we went through our morning routine (breakfast, pool, sauna) and then were off to explore the town. None of the tours that were offered that day really called to us. The only one that really did was hiking Mt. Varden, but we had decided not to take it because we would have both hiked the day before to the glacier. Even if we had decided to do it, C would have had to sit out of it again because, even feeling better, a strenuous hike is not the way to heal.

 

So, we walked off the ship and just started walking along the streets of Molde. We walked into a little shopping mall a few blocks from the port. We picked out a little toy where you build a battery powered windmill for Enzi and noticed that many of the toys are the same as they are here. They have Thomas, and Bob the Builder, and Legos, and Disney too.

 

So, here is the part where I have the task of describing a not so nice event. C and I were walking to the restrooms in this little mall and just before we reach the door to the men’s room and I am about to walk the three extra feet to the ladies’ room, this old man (I would have placed him in the mid 70’s) literally pushes me out of the way and trips me so that he can get into the men’s room. I manage to just barely catch my footing again and end up kicking his foot in the process. I keep going on my way and C and I separate into our respective bathrooms. I’m thinking that the man really needed to go. Cause, y’know, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Plus, I know that with age there are some things that are more urgent than when one is younger.

 

When C and I meet back up, he lets me know just how wrong I was in this line of thinking. All the man, who is now extremely rude and obnoxious to me given my new found information, did was wash his hands and walk back out. He didn’t even use the facilities! I don’t care if you have just finished touching poop, covered in vomit, with a side of bloody phlegm; you can wait an extra 3 seconds to go wash your hands instead of almost causing injury to two people. This is behavior that Mr. Rude would have yelled at his grandchildren about had they been the ones doing it. Hypocritical db.

 

Anyway…

 

Went back to the little coffee shop on the first floor of the mall and got myself what was probably the least expensive thing I purchased on this entire trip- Skolebrød (School bread). This pastry, a sweet bread roll with custard in the middle and coconut on top cost me all of 16K, or just under $3. Less than getting a pastry at Starbucks. The bread was still warm and I wasn’t about to wait till I got back on the ship to eat it, so street food it was.

 

 

 

After a little bit of shopping, where C indulged in his weakness, backpacks; this one in particular not only was lightweight, but also had a viking man’s head embroidered on it. There was no question it was going to go home with us. We decided to start looking around for some lunch. Sure, we could return to the ship and eat there, but we both still wanted to be out for a while and knew that whenever we got back to the boat, we wouldn’t be going back out.

 

We found a little place, somewhere between a stand and an actual building on a little square close to the water where we both got a donner kebab and a drink. Once we were finished with lunch, which neither one of use could actually finish since the pita sandwiches were very well filled, C was getting weary of being out and about so we made our way back.

 

Our regular stop at Cafe al Bacio brought some nice and warming hot chocolate and tea.

 

Back in our stateroom, we watched Pilot Guides

 

on TDN (which we were calling the db network since, particularly the male guides were in full d-nugget force) until a nap was in C’s near future.

 

That evening, I watched the world go by.

 

Islands and mountains as we left Molde

 

A cruise ship that was in the distance. I have no idea what line it belongs to

 

After the all day rain, a rainbow

 

 

P&O Aurora :)

[Syrreal]

Thanks guys. I went to the P&O website and it does look like the Aurora.

When I was trying to find it I didn't even think of P&O since I only even thought of them as a shipping industry. (i used to work for a shipping container leasing co)

[Syrreal]

I don't have a computer right now so my review is paused. Hopefully I'll get it back tomorrow so I can post Gerainger and Alesund by Monday

Edited July 27, 2012 by Syrreal

[Harley57]

Awesome photos! Thanks for sharing.:)

[sginva]

thank you and you may have been asked previously but would you share what camera you are using?

many thanks

we are going may 2013

[Glendakayself]

.

The ship is very nice. It has some nice art too, although some is kind of dubious; mainly a collection of weed sculptures. I get enough of dandelions at home. I think the works may have been called Abandonment, but am not sure.

 

We came home after our two week Connie cruise in February to find the spring dandelions knee high. We joked all spring about pulling them up and bringing them for art. The dandelion art on Connie is really a hoot!

[Syrreal]

thank you and you may have been asked previously but would you share what camera you are using?

many thanks

we are going may 2013

 

I don't have a fancy camera. It's just a point and shoot Canon Powershot. The SD 960 IS from a few years back (12.1 megapixels).

 

 

Am supposed to pick up my computer tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Syrreal]

Got my computer back so here are Geiranger and part one of Alesund

 

We anchored off Geiranger today and took the tenders off to port. This port is beautiful. There were waterfalls all around us, everywhere you looked!

 

Constellation in Geiranger

 

Geiranger tender

 

We didn’t have a tour or anything planned for this stop and C was still on the mend so we just took it easy. We took the time to do a little bit of shopping. Bought some socks, some little things for the kids and a super touristy magnet for our friend Argento who is all about the magnets.

 

We walked down the road to where there was a little camping area and found a small grocery store. We walked in and were just looking around when we found it… the chip section. And in this chip section there was just something that there was no way to pass up. CHICKEN FRIES! We had never seen these before but you just can’t miss something that is called chicken pommes and has a little chicken serving up a chicken leg. Besides, the package itself stated that it was a summer favorite and, of course the packaging is always truthful, right?

 

 

You know what? They are DELICIOUS! The chips themselves are kind of a mix of Hot fries (the fries) and drumstick shaped bugles and the flavor is somewhere between rotisserie and bbq chicken. Absolutely fabulous and I want to find a place that I can order these online.

 

We sauntered around for a few more minutes and C was starting to feel tired so we decided to find someplace to eat and then start making our way back to the ship.

 

Houses in Geiranger

 

We found the Cafe Ole. This is a small but cute little cafe with tables that are close together and a little eating area that is outside in a separate covered patio that has couches to sit on. C ordered some kind of pesto chicken (which was pretty good) and a pear cider (crisp and light). I wasn’t hungry so decided on just a cappuccino, which was very nice indeed.

 

 

[Syrreal]

C didn’t even realize I was taking this picture of his gazing out at the view. I love this picture! It’s just so natural and, in many ways sweet. He is just quiet. Love it!

 

 

That night, the dining room attire was smart casual. I wore a cute little blue and green empire waisted dress and kitten heels. Nothing fancy, but I looked nice. After dinner, I changed into yoga pants and a green thermal shirt with Thumper on the front of it. After 11pm, we decided to walk around. We took the stairs to Deck 10 and walked to the buffet and around. As we were walking out of the buffet area and towards the pool, we pass a group of three girls. I would put them at 14 at the most. I had seen these girls before a few times. They were in the same dinner seating that we were.

As we walk past them, we hear whispers. “Great,” I think. What is going on here?

“Say it! Say it!” one girl whispers to another.

The one girl calls to me. “Excuse me…”

C and I turn towards them.

“You looked really pretty tonight!”

I smile and say thank you.

It was a really sweet little moment and still makes me smile when I think about it.

 

Leaving Geiranger