Constellation April 27th – May 9th Review

[Cruise Junky]

I apologize in advance for my ramblings, it's turned out longer than I expected.

 

We booked this cruise for my 50th Birthday and it did not disappoint. I was initially hesitant about booking on an “older” ship as we loved Solstice so much so I was a bit disappointed to find the perfect itinerary on an M class ship but I’m so glad we took the plunge and booked.

We were in an FV, 7201 and loved it. We’ve had the corner one on Millennium (7199) and while it does have a bigger deck we really enjoyed the glass rather than metal railing of 7201 and we were more protected from the wind. Let’s face it, there is nothing to complain about if you can get an FV.

We landed in Rome after a stop in Frankfurt and rested for the night at the Hilton Airport Hotel. Hotel was fine, breakfast was good and included in our rate. Next morning we picked up a rental car from Europecar and headed down to Positano on the Amalfi Coast for three nights. AMAZING! We stayed at the Hotel Marincanto and it was just lovely.

Night before the cruise we stayed at Hotel San Giorgio in Civitavecchia. Hotel was fine, not great but did the job and provided a transfer to the port.

Boarding was relatively easy. We arrived about noon. Between checking in and boarding the ship we were able to buy a 3 night dining package (2x Tuscan 1x Ocean Liners) for $100 pp. and upgraded our drink packages. As mentioned, we had FV 7201 and LOVED IT.

THE SHIP

Beautiful! All fears about Connie were soon put to rest, she’s beautiful and in impeccable shape. All of the crew that we encountered seemed to be happy and friendly. I loved that there seemed to be bars/lounges to fit every demographic . Our favourite hangout was the martini bar ;) Entertainment seemed good. I heard good things about the shows although we only personally attended one. Had some fun (late) nights in Reflection Lounge. Great dance music

THE FOOD

So subjective but we really enjoyed it. Bistro on Five was a bit of a let down after a great menu on Solstice. It’s been cut pretty drastically. We went there once as it was presented as a birthday gift, I wouldn’t pay for it. Tuscan Grille –we ate there twice and both times it was fantastic. Great table by the window, food and service were great. Ocean Liners – Had my birthday dinner there. So, so good. The food was wonderful and the service is excellent. MDR – everything we ordered was very good and some items were exceptional. Probably some of the best food we’ve had in any Main Dining Room on any ship. We had Select Dining and were always seated in the same section with the same wait staff and usually at a window table for two. Buffet – We had 9 out of 12 breakfasts in the buffet and I think I had Eggs Bennie every morning. Loved the made to order stations. I tried the Pasta Bar, Panini Bar & Stir Fry station. All were good. We sometimes found the hot food selections lacking at lunch but could always make do with the specialty stations. Room Service – ordered two breakfasts for early morning excursions and the orders were perfect and really appreciated the follow up call to make sure we received everything – nice touch.

THE PORTS

Naples – we took the ship’s excursion for “Leisurely Sorrento” it was pretty good. Just a half day tour. We’ve been in Naples a few times and that combined with our 3 nights in Positano, Sorrento was the only place we hadn’t been. Lovely

Malta – First visit for us. We just wandered around Valleta. Next time we’ll visit Mdina. Really impressed with St.John’s Cathedral. So much history on Malta. Lovely Island.

Santorini – 3rd visit for us and we really wanted to hike the Caldera this time to Oia. We were able to get on the first tender and was up the cable car by 7:30 am. Took a bit of time to find the start of the trail but once we did it was easy to follow. It’s around 12 – 13 kilometers I believe and took us 3 hours. The distance didn’t bother us but there are some steep climbs and some dodgy surfaces along the way. Glad we were able to do it first thing in the morning. Took the bus back to Fira and very little wait for the cable car down.

Kusadasi – we’d been to Ephesus before but back in 2008 so we thought it was time for a return visit and we’re really glad we did. (not that anything has changed) but having a different guide gave a different perspective. Our roll call arranged the tour and I think there were 16 of us. Fabulous tour and a very knowledgeable tour guide. We visited Mary’s House, Ephesus and amazing Turkish lunch and then stopped at the Basilica of St John before returning to the port and doing a little leather shopping J

Mykonos – We just wandered around town, took in Little Venice and the Windmills, did a little shopping a nice lunch and then made our way back to the ship. Love Mykonos for just wandering.

Rhodes – drowned rats comes to mind ;) We started off to just explore the old town as we had been to Lindos before. About ½ way through the day the skies just opened and of course who had no umbrella and no coat? Yes, that would be us. Beautiful just to explore the historic areas. We were both blown away by a Busker who was in the Castle in one of the walkways. He was amazing. I could have listened to him for hours. Happy to have a couple of Aspen Coffees onboard to warm up.

Athens – today was my 50th and we debated about even going ashore as this was our 4th trip to Athens. The new museum won the vote so off we set. We had hoped to take the X80 bus into town but it was only going to start running a week after we were there. We got a cab for 20 Euro to the Acropolis and started there and then headed down to the new museum. WOW - the museum is amazing and beautifully designed and what a bargain at only 5 euro. An absolute must in Athens. We took a cab back to the port for 20 Euro. The hop on bus seemed a deal at 20 Euro for the day.

Chania – Crete – first visit for us and loved it. We took the port bus into Chania for 1.70 I think. Busses ran every 10 – 15 mins and dropped you off right outside the market. DH did well on leather here, he got two belts and some lambskin gloves on the leather street at the back of the market. We then headed down to the water and just relaxed with a beer and baklava overlooking the harbor. We wandered the back streets a little to the right of the harbor before heading back to the ship on the bus.

Venice – ah, Venice. This was our 4th time in Venice. Every med. cruise we’ve done has either started or ended there. I’m torn on Venice, I love it but I’m kind of done. It’s so overcrowded with cruise ship passengers during the day that it takes a lot of romance out of it. This was early May and it was nuts, I can’t even imagine the summer. We took the peoplemover and bought our vaporetto passes 20 Euro for 24 hours. Hopped on the number one to the Rialto. We got off here and headed behind the market and the bridge and started to wander the back streets to escape the crowds. A couple of hours later we hopped back on and went to St. Marks. Still a zoo but you have to do it. After an hour or so and a gelato or two we hopped back on about three stops from St. Marks and headed back to the ship.

We overnighted in Venice and there were a lot of cabs the first day taking reservations for the second day for transfer to the airport. Very easy to get someone. We made arrangements for someone to pick us up at 6:30am the next morning for 45 Euro. I was a bit surprised that Celebrity’s tranfers didn’t start until 7. On Princess they started really early, like about 5:30am. But no biggy to get a cab and probably cheaper.

CONCLUSION

We both loved Celebrity and are a bit sorry that we haven’t done more on them. We’ll have to fix that going forward – we booked on board for next year on Reflection.

[portofrome]

Thanks so much for your review.

[Clarea]

Nicely written review, thanks.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for the review. We're doing this same itinerary on Connie in at the end of the month, so your reflections are very relevant.

[lauraapp]

Thanks for sharing your experience! Doing the same itin in two and a half weeks! Getting excited!

[DrivesLikeMario]

Great review, thank you! Welcome home! :)

[rdt10]

We were on the same cruise. Great ship and itinerary. We found the food in select dining the best we have had on a cruise.

 

FYI. I took a sport coat and tie for chic nights, but many did not. Slacks and nice shirts were common. I'll leave the coat and tie at home next time.

 

This was our third med cruise and was the most relaxing of all. Very easy to DIY.

 

I do recommend a tour of Ephesus and the Terrace Houses in Kusadasi and something in addition to the city in Naples.

 

We used Ephesus Shuttle in Kusadasi and our guide, Melike, was excellent. A good place to eat in Kusadasi is Oz Urfa. Very good kebabs and my wife who is vegetarian loves their pita bread with hummus and vegetables.

 

In Naples we hired a taxi at the port for a trip to Herculaneum, a quick tour of Naples and drop off at the Archeological Museum where the original Pompeii artifacts are. We had done Pompeii, Sorrento and Amalfi coast before.

 

Di Matteo pizza in Naples was great. 1.50 euro for a great individual take away pizza.

 

I would definitely do this cruise again.

[Gran2five]

Thanks for a great review.

 

What a nice way to celebrate your 50th!

[Azulann]

Does the Constellaiton have a new captain?

[Teenybk]

Captain Vito is supposed to be the new Constellation captain - been trying to get feedback about him, since we'll be on Connie on the 31st, but haven't heard much yet.

[Lastdance]

I will dearly miss Europe this year, so thanks for sharing. So love all of those places, but haven't been to Crete. Most of all, thank you for sharing your views of an M class ship, as we board the Millie on the 20th. I can only hope that my views parallel yours regarding the ship etc. My DH and I have only done the S class ships; he isn't worried, but I am and have never been disappointed with any of them. My mind is a little more at ease, after reading your information.

 

So glad that you had such a wonderful trip, especially to ports you have been several times in the past. I too feel that Venice is wonderful, but enough goes along way, especially with multitudes of cruise passengers. This next year we would like to take a TA over to Europe, ending up in Rome. We have yet to spend time in Ravello, so that is something we just have to do. Positano is beautiful too.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and thoughts along the way - your review was not too long, but very informative!:cool:

Edited May 14, 2016 by Lastdance

[Cruise Junky]

I will dearly miss Europe this year, so thanks for sharing. So love all of those places, but haven't been to Crete. Most of all, thank you for sharing your views of an M class ship, as we board the Millie on the 20th. I can only hope that my views parallel yours regarding the ship etc. My DH and I have only done the S class ships; he isn't worried, but I am and have never been disappointed with any of them. My mind is a little more at ease, after reading your information.

 

So glad that you had such a wonderful trip, especially to ports you have been several times in the past. I too feel that Venice is wonderful, but enough goes along way, especially with multitudes of cruise passengers. This next year we would like to take a TA over to Europe, ending up in Rome. We have yet to spend time in Ravello, so that is something we just have to do. Positano is beautiful too.

 

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and thoughts along the way - your review was not too long, but very informative!:cool:

 

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!

 

We took the bus up to Ravello. It was a zoo. We didn't realize until it was too late that it was a bank holiday. Traffic was at a standstill. Loved Positano and are likely to return next year after Reflection.

[CruisingSuzyQ]

Thanks so much for all the positive reviews. We are very excited as we are doing a b2b starting Thursday. Loved the combination of the two cruises but wondered how we would like Constellation after the Eclipse. Glad to hear it is so good!

[Cruise Junky]

Thanks so much for all the positive reviews. We are very excited as we are doing a b2b starting Thursday. Loved the combination of the two cruises but wondered how we would like Constellation after the Eclipse. Glad to hear it is so good!

 

Super jealous! Enjoy

[Texed]

I will dearly miss Europe this year, so thanks for sharing!:cool:

 

You could join us again on Equinox June 25th. ;)

[gwilli]

Thanks for the great review! Sailing on June 12 .... Can't wait!

Cheers!