Just Back from Dubai to Singapore Dec 2019 Constellation

[hampshirelad]

This cruise is running between Dubai and Singapore and the reverse during January and February and into March. I believe the ship will then shortly go into dock for a complete makeover before returning to service. I think this is the first time they have done this route.

 

We had saved up our pennies and booked a suite and I cannot speak too highly of the food and service we received during the cruise.  Our cabin was kept spotlessly clean by Victoria and our butler Bart could not do enough for us. The food and service in Luminae was outstanding and while you tend to remember the names of the extrovert ones such as Rosebud and Mercy while there is a whole team keeping it going day after day. We have been with Celebrity many times over the last 15 years. Also, the ship was in excellent condition considering her age and was kept spotlessly clean throughout the cruise.

 

We took this cruise because we wanted a taste India with a place of tranquillity to retreat to every night and Constellation provided that. However, you need to study the route and port timings very carefully and be aware that these change for the Singapore to Dubai route which at first glance are the preferable. My comments relate to the Dubai / Singapore route only.

Most rolls call’s for Indian cruises spend the bulk discussing the India visa procedures. We had no problem in obtaining ours although producing the photograph took time. All the ports listed are covered by the Evisa scheme which has not always been the case.

 

Celebrity have taken the route and squashed it into 15 days resulting in a number of half days at ports. Often arriving in the middle of the day in temperatures of 30 C plus and where it gets dark at around 6 pm. Many of the stops are not tourist destinations and you may find yourself over 5/ 6 hours driving 4 hrs with just over and hour at the destination. On the Indian coastline you have the Portuguese, The Dutch and finally the British all leaving their mark so you will be shown examples of houses and churches in all those destinations. These are some of the issues we found, which you may find helpful

 

Dubai . Leaving at 4pm on Day 2 gives little time to do much. The HOHO buses do not route through the port, although it might appear they do There is a feeder bus from the port to the Burj area before you can join the routes and unless you have a clear two days the ticket price is not worth it.  We took a taxi to the “Creek area” nearby for a couple of hours which still retains some history. If you want to do the Burj then take a ships tour, but there is mainly an awful lot of sand to see once you are up there.

 

Muscat – Arrived midday. There is absolutely nothing to do in Muscat in the afternoon. The big draw is the Mosque which is open in the mornings only so do not get taken in by the ships tour which is a stop and view.

 

Mumbai – We were part of a group of 5 couples who hired a private guide with a small coach and had a fantastic time over the two days and that was the highlight of the cruise for us. However Mumbai is very “busy” place and I do not think you would see much trying to do it yourself. The down side is that Mumbai is very polluted and one day it obscured the sun, so if you have chest or breathing issues take care. Om Namaha Shivaya Pranav looked after us and I give him a very strong recommendation.

 

info@grandmumbai.com

https://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g304554-d3182713-Reviews-Grand_Mumbai_Tours-Mumbai_Maharashtra.html

 

Goa / Mormagao - There are lengthy taxi rides to beaches, we had a group tour to the local town and a spice plantation.

 

Cochin – Hot ! took the Grand tour with a local guide , interesting has one of the oldest synagogues in the world which will have importance for some. I am told the "Houseboat trips " were a two hour drive to the starting point.

 

Colombo - Half a day and hot. Spent a lot of time driving to a lowland tea factory. Short time at destination, very interesting and we had tea and cake on the lawn. Arrived back at the ship in the dark.

 

Phuket – Half a day. Was here twenty years ago and much has changed. You tender here and the jetty is on the south side of the beach / town. If you take a ship’s tours you have to walk some distance from the jetty to a coach park and at the end walk back to the jetty. The traffic is gridlocked. We did not finish the tour as we lost someone, and it then got dark.  Suggest you do your own thing.

 

 

Singapore – Wished we had stayed on.  There is the highest indoor waterfall in the world and complex  now open at the airport where you can pass the time at before the flight.

 

We got the impression that Celebrity might not do this route in another year, because of the Admin at the Ports. You have to get a copy of your visa stamped by a customs officer each time you disembark and don't even think about loosing it.

 

You will need an entry permit to visit Sri Lanka which you can get online

 

Hope some of this helps

[portofrome]

Thank you for your review!

[FFMilesJunkie]

Thank you for your timely review.  We are flying to Dubai in a few days to join the Connie for the same itinerary.  We are packing for the scorching heat of India and Sri Lanka! 

[Edinburghgirl1]

We were booked on this cruise and another  as a back to back in November 2020  but it has been cancelled as the Constellation has been redeployed to Florida. There are no other Celebrity  ships doing these ports after April 2020. Don’t think they have been too popular and they were not getting the bookings. 

[villauk]

Yes, we were planning on the same itinerary for Christmas 2020 but the ship was redeployed to Tampa.

 

OP,

Sounds like you haven’t been that enthralled with the itinerary, but having the suite life did help. Thanks for the review.

[mdpa]

Thanks for the review and feedback about the ports. We are doing Hong Kong to Singapore next week and looking at a map it would have been pretty neat to add this itinerary at some point to "continue the tour" in this part of the world.

 

I think our SE Asia cruise has some of the same challenges with cruise ports being far from destinations (at least with larger ships) but since a few stops are multi-day it allows for overnight stays in hotels (which might make it more fun/interesting but also needs to be factored into overall cost).

 

Interesting to hear how your itinerary took the opposite approach of "fast stops" which allows you to see more places and travel further with other compromises.

[Mark_T]

40 minutes ago, mdpa said:

Thanks for the review and feedback about the ports. We are doing Hong Kong to Singapore next week and looking at a map it would have been pretty neat to add this itinerary at some point to "continue the tour" in this part of the world.

 

We just returned from that itinerary a week ago, you'll have a great time.

 

We had already done a land/Mekong river cruise a couple of years ago so we didn't need to do any of the longer journeys to Hanoi / Saigon or Siem Reap.

 

We did do the Bangkok trip though which took a while and had its own little challenges 🙂

 

The Queen Mother is in poor health at the moment and her son the current King is prone to capricious closures of some of the locations you might expect to visit so be prepared to go with the flow if things have to change at short notice.

 

The ship is a very happy place though with amazing staff so whatever happens you'll have a great time.

 

 

[hcat]

3 hours ago, villauk said:

Yes, we were planning on the same itinerary for Christmas 2020 but the ship was redeployed to Tampa.

 

OP,

Sounds like you haven’t been that enthralled with the itinerary, but having the suite life did help. Thanks for the review.

 Appreciated the review.

I received the same impression from the review as prior poster

 

.. Maybe X did the right thing re deploying Constellation to Tampa. Bookings will.probably be strong even if nothing new or exotic in the way of itins.

[Provence55always]

Thank you so much for your very informative review. We are on the Singapore to Dubai leg on the 17th January and really looking forward. We seem to have longer days in ports doing it this way. We have 4 nights in Singapore before we board.  

 

I see from our roll roll call that a lot of people intend to travel to Agra as a side trip when we dock in Mumbai overnight. I personally think that will be challenging but each to there own. We did a land trip to Northern India a few years ago so having two days in Mumbai should be fun.

[bdwoods]

On 12/27/2019 at 11:54 AM, hampshirelad said:

Phuket – Half a day. Was here twenty years ago and much has changed. You tender here and the jetty is on the south side of the beach / town. If you take a ship’s tours you have to walk some distance from the jetty to a coach park and at the end walk back to the jetty. The traffic is gridlocked. We did not finish the tour as we lost someone, and it then got dark.  Suggest you do your own thing.

 

 

 

Thanks for the helpful summary!  We are doing the same itinerary on March 2 from Dubai.

 

I'm wondering if you (or anyone) can shed a bit of light on Phuket.  The ship doesn't arrive till mid day, and leaves at around 9 pm.  We would love to spend the time there seeing Phi Phi Island but don't like any of the Celebrity excursions available.  I've heard there are a lot of tour operators at the tender point.  Can you provide any insight from yourself or others about how easy and costly it is to do these boat tours last minute?   The mid day port arrival makes us a bit concerned with having enough time to do something meaningful on the water.

 

Thanks in advance if there's anything you can suggest or insight you can give.

 

Brian.

[Lotus Girl]

Thanks for your informative review.  We're on the 2nd March sailing and I've just been comparing some of our trips to what you've mentioned.  Did you do any trips with Celebrity or did you do them all privately? Just curious to see if you did any ship trips and if they were okay or not. 

 

Karen

[Pilgrim70]

Thanks for your review. We’re doing the reverse trip starting March 2. Main reason I want to see Taj Mahal. Have booked overnight with Indiator. Going to Dubai a day early. Wonder id that is enough time.