Constellation 2/7/15 review

[jackal24]

This was our first Celebrity cruise, and probably our last. We did a 5 day from FLL to Key West and Cozumel.

 

Embarkation: Wonderful. We showed up around 2:15 and spent no more than 10 minutes from the time we got to the pier to the time we were onboard. Our stateroom was available immediately.

 

Stateroom: We had an interior stateroom (2140) and the room was pretty much as we expected it. No real surprises with the room itself. Both robes in the room were stained. One had stains in the 'rear end' area and the other one had multiple smaller stains scattered around that appeared to be blood stained. Our stateroom attendant replaced them quickly, but we were hesitant to use the new ones even though they appeared clean.

 

Stateroom attendant: We had some issues here. First, we asked if he would mind removing the items from the minibar so that we could place our own sodas in it. He informed us that we could just take everything out and place it in the drawers. I felt that he was making us do his job. The other bigger issue was in the schedule. After the first two nights, we switched from select dining to main dining (see below). I made sure to mention that to him, but when we returned from dinner every night at around 8, our room had not yet been touched. He now knew when we were having dinner, but didn't touch the room till after 8 each night. On a little better note, he did remember that we preferred extra towels in the room and had extras each night.

 

Tuscan Grill: We ate at the Tuscan Grill the first night and were not impressed. First, although we showed up at the allotted time, and were sat promptly, we waited 10 minutes before our server came over. He explained the menu to us and then asked if we wanted any beverages. My wife asked if a full bar was available and our server said "just a second" and left. 5 minutes later, we see him with another table without returning to ours. It really confused us. After another 5 minutes, the assistant waiter came over and asked us if we were okay. We told him what happened and he seemed as confused as we were, but did get our drinks. I'm still not sure that our server even knew about the drinks, because we never did pay for them.

As far as the food goes, the crab cake was very good, albeit small. The French Onion soup was some of the best I have ever had. My wife ordered the shrimp cocktail and it was not cold at all (maybe intentionally?). I don't remember what my wife ordered for her entree, but I do remember that she thought it was average. I ordered the Strip and it was about Ponderosa quality. Not exactly what I was expecting for additional fee dining.

Part of my experience was probably the fact that I didn't complain about anything (except for the confusion about the drinks). In retrospect, I probably should have asked for my money back for that dining because it was definitely not worth any additional fee.

 

Select dining: We had the select dining. On the second night of the cruise, we went up to dining at 7pm. I know this is prime time and was expecting to wait. We were told 15-20 minutes, but didn't get called for about 40. When we were shown to our seat, we walked back and forth with the host while he tried to find the table. He eventually had to ask another server where it was (shouldn't the staff know?). After being seated, the service was poor with long periods where we were sitting waiting on the server to come back to check on us. The food was mediocre at best (with the exception of the French Onion soup). After this experience we decided to see if we could switch to one of the regular dining options. We went to the customer service deck on the ship and the lady directed us to the Maitre'D in the dining room. I do not remember his name, but he was very accommodating, providing us a private table at the main dining service and even showing us the table and asking if it would work for us.

 

Main dining: We had the main dining for the last 3 nights of the cruise. Our waiter (Emmanuel) and assistant waiter (Antonio Orlando) were superb. They were one of the few things on this cruise that made it bearable. Once we had those two as our servers, we never felt that we weren't being attended to in the dining area. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome. At one point, my wife ordered an entree that she didn't really enjoy. Emmanuel noticed this and almost seemed offended that we didn't get something else (we were not that hungry). We had talked about just getting a few cookies from the buffet for desert, but we made sure not to mention this because I am sure Emmanuel would have gone out of his way to go get them and bring them back and we really didn't mind getting them ourselves.

The food in the main dining room was once again mediocre with only a few exceptions (the peanut butter ice cream was excellent).

 

Buffet: Ranged from average to pretty good. The Indian selections were quite good; the desserts were all poor. I'm not sure if it is because Celebrity caters to an older crowd, but it seemed like there was not enough salt in anything. Desserts were pretty tasteless.

 

Elevators: I know it is kind of weird to give elevators their own selection, but we just couldn't figure them out. We primarily used the midship elevators and they seemed to have a mind of their own. For example, we would be on deck 10 and push the down button and would watch an elevator with one person on it descend from deck 11 and not stop on 10. On a few occasions, we even saw an empty elevator arrive at our floor, stop a second, and reverse direction without opening. Other cruisers noticed this as well, and we just started getting on any elevator regardless of the direction it was heading because we didn't know when another one would stop on our floor.

 

Tours: We only did one ship sponsored excursion (segway tour in cozumel) and it was great.

 

Pools: The pool areas, while crowded on the warmer days, did not seem excessively so, and deck chairs always seemed available (although we did notice a few chair hogs, it didn't seem to be a major issue). The bar by the pool was always busy and usually had only one bartender working. He was great, fast, and enjoyable, but it seemed understaffed for the number of guests there. The indoor Thalasotherapy pool was really nice and a lot warmer than expected, but I really enjoyed it.

 

Shows: We did not go to any of them, so I can't really comment on them.

 

Casino: I can't really complain, because every time I went in there I won. If I had stayed away from the poker tournaments (which I did not do well in), I would have been up quite a bit. In the end I broke pretty much even, so no issues there.

 

Overall, I was disappointed in our Celebrity experience and will probably not be going on another one. The only thing that we really enjoyed about the experience were Emmanuel and Orlando in the MDR.

[stevesing121]

Jackal -

 

My partner and I were on the sailing a few weeks before you and had a very similar experience. Select dining wait times were very long. We tried going at all different times and was always greeted with a very long line that stretched into the cellar masters. Eventually, we started going to dinner around 8:45pm so we could get seated within 10 minutes. I will say the Constellation was not a fair representation of the brand. We have had nothing but positive experiences on other celebrity cruises (both the s and m class ships).

 

 

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[Texed]

Jack,

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[Cindy]

Sorry so many things went wrong or weren't to your liking. Thankfully, my experience on the Connie was the complete opposite!

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[beltane]

Hi... my husband and I were on the same sailing and I've got to agree with you on many of your points. Obviously it didn't stop us from booking another, we do enjoy cruising, but I did have some disappointments too. I'll post here, not to thread-jack, but for ease of conversation since it is about the exact same sailing.

 

Boarding for us was easy and quick too. We were greeted with a glass of champagne in the main lobby.

 

We had cabin 8170 straight off the back. The room was nice, the balcony was huge and wonderful. I immediately noticed the bed skirt on our bed was torn, worn and hanging off the bed. It looked sloppy. The curtains too were missing some hooks and not hanging properly. Again, slovenly looking. Last year in Concierge class we had fresh flowers each day. None. We had a bucket of ice with a bottle of Celebrity's OWN champagne, not a name brand. Our steward immediately came by to say hello. I mentioned the few little details and he said he would get on them. I asked if it would be possible to exchange the champagne for a bottle of red wine. My husband is diabetic and cannot drink champagne but is allowed red wine. Celebrity has done this for us before. He said he would "look into it". We never saw him again for the rest of the week. Seriously... until 7:55 a.m. on the day we were leaving we didn't see him again. To his credit, our bed was made every day, and fresh towels replenished in the bathroom, but that was it. The bedskirt was never replaced and the curtains were never fixed. We had to remove our own dirty dishes. We had to bag our own garbage bags and put them by the door to get him to empty the buckets. He never cleaned the balcony, not that it got that dirty, but you'd be surprised what blows over on an aft balcony. The first night I returned to our room around 10 p.m. to find our lunch dishes still on the table, even though the bed was turned down, so clearly the steward was there... so I phoned and said "Hi, I don't mean to be a problem at this late hour, but our lunch dishes are still here and I would like to use our coffee table" he told me to "put the dishes on the floor in the hall outside the door." !!! The door is heavy, the ship was swaying and the tray was quite full... it was quite difficult to do (my hats off to the stewards who carry full trays so successfully!) I ended up taking the dishes to the hall in several trips.

 

He was obviously telling our neighbors to do like wise, and they had toddlers, so several times each day we had to walk past their trays of dirty dishes and BALLED UP DIRTY DIAPERS. All week.

 

We had a terrible dinner in Tuscan Grill on the first night. Last year we had a wonderful experience on the Reflection, the Constellation did not meet it. We immediately felt rushed in spite of the restaurant being empty. I said to our server that I would like to take my time and rest between courses and she looked a little puzzled. I ordered a martini and said I will look over the menu while I sip it. You'd think my head spun around on my shoulders. They wanted the entire order right away. I refused because I knew they would rifle it out of the kitchen bang bang bang. I explained to them that I will order what I want when I want it. Their panic calmed a bit. We enjoyed apps, salad and then our steaks arrived. I ordered medium rare. My steak arrived well done. The sides come in little dishes, which by then I had placed on my plate. So they took away my steak, vegetables and all and did bring me back a medium rare steak quite quickly. But just the steak. No vegetables. So I asked if I could please have some vegetables and my gravy replaced. Off they went again. All this while my husband is eating his dinner. They finally brought my dinner, steak done right, vegetables, sauce and I enjoyed it. My husband sipped a glass of wine while I ate. We did not get to dine together. Another thing I noticed different from our experience on the Reflection... on the Reflection the servers and sommelier were very gracious that we MERELY had the classic alcohol package and still treated us like high valued customers. This time, on the Constellation, upon seeing we had the classic alcohol package we often felt brushed off. "I'll see what I can do." "You just get one wine. That's it. No choices." "You need to go get your own martini. I don't do that." Had a similar response at Bistro on Five. I asked for a glass of rose. The server said "We don't have any. You can have white." So I did. Then across the bistro I see him pour a glass of rose for another patron. I called him back and said "That looks like rose..." and he said "Oh, THAT's what you want. One moment..." and brought me a glass of rose.

 

Tuscan Grill was such a big disappointment this time that we had booked it for later in the week for my husband's birthday and cancelled it.

 

On the other hand, we ate in Ocean Liners and it was WONDERFUL. Lovely, delicious, memorable dinner.

 

The main dining room was VERY good. I almost wish we had simply dined there and saved our money from the restaurants.

 

I thought the live music on this cruise was fabulous this time! The shows were very good too. I loved all the opportunities to dance with my husband.

 

I was always able to get a lounger by the pool.

 

We did the little train tour in Key West and thoroughly enjoyed it. Loved Key West, would go back any time. We only perused through the shops on the pier in Cozumel. We've done Cozumel many times. We did walk over to the Carnival pier as it is bigger and has a few shops and restaurants we like better. Lots of opportunities in both ports for free wifi.

 

I love blackjack. I'm not good, but I enjoy it. Celebrity blackjack starts at $10 which is too rich for me. I noticed all week that the blackjack tables were always empty. On the last night, while again walking past an empty table I leaned over to the pit guy and said "You know, if Celebrity had a $5 table it would be packed all night long!" He said to me "THAT would be a cardinal sin!" I said "Well obviously you know better..." and pointed to all the empty chairs and winked at him. He looked away.

 

I would think twice about Tuscan Grill. Don't know what more can be done about room stewards that need direction in all things. I know I should speak up to them, but I'm not confrontational. Fortunately hubs and I are fairy tidy people and don't need much clean up. (Honestly, we have had better cabin steward service on Carnival cruises!) I found on this cruise, compared to last year's Celebrity cruise, that we often felt "looked down" on when we presented our basic alcohol package. Almost a slight "snub" by the servers that we never felt on the Reflection.

 

I think my disappointment is mostly a bad dinner in Tuscan and a cabin steward who perhaps is needing a break. They do work very hard.

 

In spite of my criticisms, we had a wonderful week. Very relaxing. Loved the live music. Met some great people. The ship was clean and lovely. Nothing deterred us from booking another cruise. We had a great time.

[Orator]

Also on this cruise and agree that Tuscan was a problem. Alex, a fantastic Maître 'd had just left for vacation and was replaced by a new person. First night on the job and obviously needed more training and experience. For our dinner he paked everyone together in one dining area making it feel crowded and loud. Those at our table found the food to be quite well prepared. Side dishes were small and we requested a second order. That has NEVER happened before.

This cruise was was not typical in other respects. There was a surprise audit team that came on board and 4 audits were conducted at the same time. The Head of Security was onboard to investigate a recent incident. The Captain needed to leave for another ship prior to the end of this cruise and the new Captain took command. Both Captains are fantastic. Captain Tasos participated in Liars Club, Volleyball and presented a Q & A even with his heavy schedule. Captain Nikolas walked through the MDR and greeted guests on his first night.

I had a few concerns along the way, but they were resolved when I spoke directly to the officer in charge.

Entertainment was excellent!

The ship was full and I was advised to switch from Select to late Traditional dining. A good suggestion as I avoided the crowds and flung really great table mates.

Every cruise is different. I've never had a "perfect" cruise, but overall this was pretty good to me.

 

Connie remains one of my favorite ships and I look forward to boarding on the 21st of this month.

[sunshine nana]

Thanks for the heads up on the Tuscan Grill. We will probably not go there. We were disappointed in the Grill on Silly in Sept.. DH had loved the filet on our Equinox cruise, but it was not good on Silly. Also, my lobster tail was not good. I asked the waiter to not put all the extras on top and he still did. Since we did not pay because we were in an S1, but did not complain. We did tell our waiter in the MDR that his food and service were better. We will try to Oceans since we have a lot of OBC.

[Orator]

Thanks for the heads up on the Tuscan Grill. We will probably not go there. We were disappointed in the Grill on Silly in Sept.. DH had loved the filet on our Equinox cruise, but it was not good on Silly. Also, my lobster tail was not good. I asked the waiter to not put all the extras on top and he still did. Since we did not pay because we were in an S1, but did not complain. We did tell our waiter in the MDR that his food and service were better. We will try to Oceans since we have a lot of OBC.

 

You should always tell those in a position to remedy a situation if there is a problem. This is not "complaining", but rather "informing". I discussed the food situation with the new Captain (I've known him for a long time) and he really appreciated the information. I suspect that there will be a big improvement on my next Connie cruise. So many threads on these boards are triggered by issues that were never raised on the ships. Several of these threads are going now.

[Caribbean Chris]

Also on this cruise and agree that Tuscan was a problem. Alex, a fantastic Maître 'd had just left for vacation and was replaced by a new person. First night on the job and obviously needed more training and experience. For our dinner he paked everyone together in one dining area making it feel crowded and loud. Those at our table found the food to be quite well prepared. Side dishes were small and we requested a second order. That has NEVER happened before.

This cruise was was not typical in other respects. There was a surprise audit team that came on board and 4 audits were conducted at the same time. The Head of Security was onboard to investigate a recent incident. The Captain needed to leave for another ship prior to the end of this cruise and the new Captain took command. Both Captains are fantastic. Captain Tasos participated in Liars Club, Volleyball and presented a Q & A even with his heavy schedule. Captain Nikolas walked through the MDR and greeted guests on his first night.

I had a few concerns along the way, but they were resolved when I spoke directly to the officer in charge.

Entertainment was excellent!

The ship was full and I was advised to switch from Select to late Traditional dining. A good suggestion as I avoided the crowds and flung really great table mates.

Every cruise is different. I've never had a "perfect" cruise, but overall this was pretty good to me.

 

Connie remains one of my favorite ships and I look forward to boarding on the 21st of this month.

 

I'm really glad you added this info. These reports have valid complaints - and I'm so sorry people had issues arise. I was surprised since they bore no resemblance to our December Constellation sailing.

 

It's really a shame about the change at the specialty restaurant. We had a wonderful evening in Tuscan - great food & service, never rushed, no trouble ordering mixed drinks before ordering. In fact, my niece (who rarely drinks) wanted to order some sort of peach cocktail concoction involving soft ice cream she'd heard of and described vaguely, and when no one could figure out what the heck she was talking about, they brought a peach Bellini as a substitute with apologies and comped it.

 

Glad to hear Ocean Liners is still great.

[sunshine nana]

DH does not like any kind of complaining, so I let it go. The MDR food (we had early traditional) was great.

[beltane]

Yes Capt Tasos was hilarious and VERY personable. My husband had the opportunity to speak with the new Capt Nikolas, who was eating in the regular seating in the Oceanview Cafe! He too was friendly and chatty and quite a sense of humour.

 

I'm such a wimp when it comes to bringing up issues with service. I worry, I see how hard these young people work on the cruises and I guess I feel guilty if I get them in trouble. On the other hand, yes, I too work hard and save for my vacation and pay quite a bit to enjoy my cruise. I find for me, I do make sure I fill out a detailed survey afterwards and if something is especially bad, I follow up with a letter.

 

I must admit, I was so disappointed with the cabin care on last week's cruise it is really making me question the extra fee I pay for Concierge class and whether there is any value to it.

Edited February 13, 2015 by beltane
spelling error, I'm bad

[KKB]

I would say that you should not write off Celebrity (nor the Constellation) after one trip--most of those issues appear to be personnel. You did seem to get several doozies, but I wouldn't pass judgement on an entire line or ship due to that.

 

Having traveled extensively, we have encountered issues at a wide variety of airlines, hotels, casinos, cruiselines, etc. Not A LOT of issues, but issues have certainly arisen at times, and it was rarely an issue of an entire brand.

 

Cabin stewards--we have had great, invisible but efficient & one that was bad (other stewards had to cover for her)

 

Dining--MDR usually a great experience, hated it as a couple at a 2 top on one Princess sailing (select dining--I do see a theme on that one...) Food in DCL MDR was "meh" (but their $ dining was superb)

 

Dining for $--loved it all except once on Princess, that one was "meh"

 

Of course, I am not one for whom lack of fresh squeezed OJ, napkin waving or towel animals (or whether people "dress" for dinner) will affect the pleasure of my cruise. If there is a "bump" in the road of our vacation I usually just roll with it. (though when I went off on people who kept walking up the stairs when we were doing a formal portrait, I'm sure my family says I don't ALWAYS roll with it...:rolleyes:HEY, there were stairs around the corner that they could use so it wasn't like they couldn't get where they were going...:D)

 

OP--I notice you only have 4 posts. Have you cruised other lines?

Edited February 13, 2015 by KKB

[Snit13]

You should always tell those in a position to remedy a situation if there is a problem. This is not "complaining", but rather "informing". I discussed the food situation with the new Captain (I've known him for a long time) and he really appreciated the information. I suspect that there will be a big improvement on my next Connie cruise. So many threads on these boards are triggered by issues that were never raised on the ships. Several of these threads are going now.

 

We just returned from our 13th Celebrity cruise and I booked 2 additional cruises while on board. At any time things aren't as they should be I contact the officer in charge....Hotel Director, Food & Bev. Manager, Head of Housekeeping.....and advise them of the situation. Never have they failed to remedy the situation immediately. You are paying your hard earned money to be treated respectfully in an clean, comfortable environment. You first time cruisers apparently did not know to send food back and get a different food if you did not like what you were served. You can have as much food as you wish and as many choices as you wish. Ask and you shall receive. It is not complaining it is getting what you paid for. Speak Up.

[jackal24]

I would say that you should not write off Celebrity (nor the Constellation) after one trip--most of those issues appear to be personnel. You did seem to get several doozies, but I wouldn't pass judgement on an entire line or ship due to that.

 

I would agree, but it is really hard to throw more money at something that we had a bad experience on. First impressions are very important.

 

OP--I notice you only have 4 posts. Have you cruised other lines?

 

I am not an avid cruiser, but I have been on RCCL three times and Disney once. At this point, I will probably just save my money up and go on Disney (with the kids) or Silversea/Seaborn/similar (without).

 

While I am sure that many people have a great experience with Celebrity, they have left a rotten taste in my mouth that would be hard to overcome.

[jackal24]

It is not complaining it is getting what you paid for. Speak Up.

 

While I agree that we should have spoken up, that is just not in my nature. Honestly though, there should not be that many things that we should have to speak up about in the first place. If it was only 1 thing wrong, I could understand, but our experience dealt with multiple different people giving bad service in different departments, as well as food that we felt was not up to par, and dirty robes. Too many issues in different areas makes me distrust the cruise line as a whole.

 

I am sure that others have a great experience and I hope they continue to do so. I am not trying to discourage people from going to Celebrity, just stating how we felt so that people can make informed decisions.