Review Celebrity Constellation April 24 TA

[uncle-b]

We are from GA and have done 49 cruises. This was one of the best ever. The entertainment was unbelievably good. I think the best we have ever had. Captain Christodouklakis was great. We met him the 1st day of the cruise and he remembered our names for the rest of the cruise. We saw him each morning at the Elite plus breakfast and late in the evening. The HD Daniel Simon, GRM Nick Shrives, and CD Drew were also very visible. They were even meeting tour groups who returned in the rain with umbrellas.

 

There were over 1500 Captain Club members on board this cruise. There were over 500 elites, 183 elite plus and 1 Zenith couple. Rati the CC hostess and her assistant Dee from the guest relations staff were great. The morning breakfast was split. Elite were in Oceanliners and Elite plus in Tuscan grille. This worked very well. We had vouchers for this cruise. They did hold the evening cocktail party from 4:30 to 7 in Reflection Lounge and canapés were served.

 

The guest entertainers on this cruise were numerous and almost all were good. Brooks Aehron, a classical pianist did an evening show and 2 afternoon matinees. He received a standing ovation each time. Neil Lockwood, Elton JOhn impersonator and vocalist was great Other entertainers were White Magic & contortionist-good, Juggler Goronwy Thom-great, Comedian Tony Daw-very funny, violinist-Rafael-good, and vocalist Jacque Scott a west end star was very good. A group of 4 women who did a Beatles Tribute were not very good.

 

The Production shows, although old were quite good. The Celebrity Orchestra just came aboard on this cruise and were good. The string trio was very good. The house band was fair while the Ocean Dreams, dance band was very good. Johnny Mantra, guitarist and vocalist was also good. My only complaint on this entire cruise was DJ and Lady Sax. They played in the evenings in the atrium. The sax player was terrible and they were very loud. You could hear them from the 3rd floor all the way to the 6th.

 

The food was also good on this cruise. Gavin, the chef was seen all over the ship talking to passengers about the food. We did breakfast & lunch in the buffet and there was a good variety. We ate most evening meals in the MDR, There were a few things we didn't like but mostly everything was good. We ate in the Tuscan Grill once. The staff in there was great. Danielle, her husband Vasilica, and Rakeesh served us mornings and were great.

 

There were only 4 ports on this cruise. We took a cab to Rossio Square in Lisbon for 15 E and we had 6 people. We did Paris on your Own with the ship and had a great sunshiny day while it rained at LeHavre. It was raining and cold in Dover and we stayed on the ship. Bruge was our favorite port. We took a taxi for 8 people that was 100E. We wished we had more time here.

 

I will try to answer any questions you may have about this cruise.

[gregg4]

Thank you for the review. Looking forward to retirement and the time to take a TA plus Europe.

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[floridafolks]

We are from GA and have done 49 cruises. This was one of the best ever. The entertainment was unbelievably good. I think the best we have ever had. Captain Christodouklakis was great. We met him the 1st day of the cruise and he remembered our names for the rest of the cruise. We saw him each morning at the Elite plus breakfast and late in the evening. The HD Daniel Simon, GRM Nick Shrives, and CD Drew were also very visible. They were even meeting tour groups who returned in the rain with umbrellas.

 

There were over 1500 Captain Club members on board this cruise. There were over 500 elites, 183 elite plus and 1 Zenith couple. Rati the CC hostess and her assistant Dee from the guest relations staff were great. The morning breakfast was split. Elite were in Oceanliners and Elite plus in Tuscan grille. This worked very well. We had vouchers for this cruise. They did hold the evening cocktail party from 4:30 to 7 in Reflection Lounge and canapés were served.

 

The guest entertainers on this cruise were numerous and almost all were good. Brooks Aehron, a classical pianist did an evening show and 2 afternoon matinees. He received a standing ovation each time. Neil Lockwood, Elton JOhn impersonator and vocalist was great Other entertainers were White Magic & contortionist-good, Juggler Goronwy Thom-great, Comedian Tony Daw-very funny, violinist-Rafael-good, and vocalist Jacque Scott a west end star was very good. A group of 4 women who did a Beatles Tribute were not very good.

 

The Production shows, although old were quite good. The Celebrity Orchestra just came aboard on this cruise and were good. The string trio was very good. The house band was fair while the Ocean Dreams, dance band was very good. Johnny Mantra, guitarist and vocalist was also good. My only complaint on this entire cruise was DJ and Lady Sax. They played in the evenings in the atrium. The sax player was terrible and they were very loud. You could hear them from the 3rd floor all the way to the 6th.

 

The food was also good on this cruise. Gavin, the chef was seen all over the ship talking to passengers about the food. We did breakfast & lunch in the buffet and there was a good variety. We ate most evening meals in the MDR, There were a few things we didn't like but mostly everything was good. We ate in the Tuscan Grill once. The staff in there was great. Danielle, her husband Vasilica, and Rakeesh served us mornings and were great.

 

There were only 4 ports on this cruise. We took a cab to Rossio Square in Lisbon for 15 E and we had 6 people. We did Paris on your Own with the ship and had a great sunshiny day while it rained at LeHavre. It was raining and cold in Dover and we stayed on the ship. Bruge was our favorite port. We took a taxi for 8 people that was 100E. We wished we had more time here.

 

I will try to answer any questions you may have about this cruise.

 

Thanks for your review- We will be on the Silhouette Spring TA which will closely follow this itinerary.(No Dover)

 

Question-- Did you have the taxi prebooked or did the 8 of you just grab a taxi at the pier? Did all taxis hold 8 people? Were there lots of taxis waiting that were not prebooked? This will help us in planning our group to Brugge.

I assume the 100E was for RT? How much time did you allow to return from Brugge to get back to the port on time?

 

Thanks for your help.

[uncle-b]

We just got the taxi at the pier. This was roundtrip and the driver arranged a time to pick us up. We allowed about a hour but it didn't take that long. Many people on our roll call had reserved taxis. Our driver had taken a group to Bruge and came back for another. We were a group of 6 and another couple on the pier asked if they could join us.

[floridafolks]

We just got the taxi at the pier. This was roundtrip and the driver arranged a time to pick us up. We allowed about a hour but it didn't take that long. Many people on our roll call had reserved taxis. Our driver had taken a group to Bruge and came back for another. We were a group of 6 and another couple on the pier asked if they could join us.

thanks for the info- Was there any conflict in return time with the driver having to pickup the original group and also your group for return to the ship?

[Wine-O]

We were on the same cruise and pre-arranged for a taxi (they all hold 8 pax). We had to take the port bus out to the port entrance to get our taxi that was waiting, and returning had to be dropped off at the port entrance and wait for the bus to return us to the ship. This was pure chaos as it was raining, there was no covered place to wait, and the bus took over 1/2 hour to pick us up.

 

Evidently some taxis have clearance to enter the port and others don't. All the taxis waiting on the pier obviously had clearance to pick up and drop off right at the ship.

 

If I were to do it over again, I would pre-arrange a group of 8 and catch a taxi waiting on the pier. Only problem, there may not be a lot of them, so would have to take your chances. You will have a longer time in port than we had.

 

Price for taxi is 50 Euro each way whether you have 1 person or 8 people, so best to have 8 and split the 100 Euro between you.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Wine-O

[uncle-b]

Our taxi picked us inside the gate right next to the ship & dropped us off there.I saw the people waiting outside the gate & couldn't understand why. The ship officers were passing out umbrellas and holding them for people getting off the buses. I would do the same thing again.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I would highly recommend booking your taxi ahead of time for Bruges. Gather a group from your roll call and book. I recommend Taxi Snel. The port blows hot and cold about which taxis can come in. We had to take the shuttle out to the taxi but on the return, he took us straight to the ship.

 

Edited July 4, 2014 by Happy Cruiser 6143

[Northern Aurora]

We were also on the cruise, and I agree with much of uncle-b's comments.

 

Since we are elite+ we attended the breakfast in the Tuscan Grill, which worked very well as it was just the correct size for the number of folks who attended regularly.

 

While we were generally satisfied with the entertainment, we found DJ and Lady Sax simply dreadful. And they were lousy every night -- they weren't just having some "off" performances.

 

We were in Aqua Class, so our assigned dining room was Blu. We were very pleased, but are fans of Blu. The Blu maitre'd was wonderful, as were the staff. And the Blu sommelier was excellent.

[DebbieMacG]

Thanks for the review. We had something called Beat & Sax on our recent infinity cruise, it was truly awful, sounds similar to Dj and Sax!:eek:

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your report/review.

 

Keith