Thrifty cruiser and I thought a germaphobe goes on Celebrity Constellation Feb 4 to Feb 14

[cgolf1]

35 minutes ago, cruisinsusin said:

We had our first experience with aluminum water bottles on Reflection ad they were actually better than we thought- no metallic taste

 

Yeh I was impressed with the taste too. I expected a metallic taste as well and never got it. I believe we each had 4-5 bottles a day. Unfortunately now that I am back home I barely touch water again. In fairness though it was very warm on the cruise and the water just tasted good. The French Caribbean slushy drinks were great too, but not a good idea to hydrate with those;)

[cruisinsusin]

Have never tried those but they do look good!

[Von & John]

We embark on the Connie 4 weeks from today...

Thanks for the review, pictures & descriptions.

This will be our 3rd cruise on the Connie & it's actually our favorite ship.

This will be our first cruise back, since the Pandemic...

Our last scheduled cruise was cancelled less than 24 HR's b/4 embarkation - 03/15/20...

Thanks Again - we are so looking forward to sun & warmth & like you relaxation is our main priority!

[cgolf1]

Day 4 - Sea

 

We basically got into our routine of get up before 7 and down to breakfast before 7:30. I will say with so few people onboard oceanview cafe never felt busy at all. We got in our morning swim and did the progressive putting in the afternoon. I continued my good luck streak and did pretty well.

 

That night we saw Shades of Buble. A group of 3 guys that sing songs that Buble either wrote, sang, or covered. It was a very good show and they sang well too. The crowd has been louder with their applause for the musical groups than they were for the comedian. Supper for me was steak and chips and Turkey Parm for my wife.

 

We did go to the challenge game show and my answers to tough questions sucked lol, but it was fun. We did go to the late night comedy of Dan Grueter. It was pretty funny, but there were a couple of moments that it seemed he had a joke set in his mind and said it even though the situation wasn't there. His mainstage act was almost empty so there were like 50 people there. This show was in the reflections lounge at 10 and very well attended, and he still pushed a couple of jokes about not a lot of people being there, it was strange. Overall a good show. 

 

The picture from Deck 4 was probably my favorite of the trip. I didn't bring the good camera and used a Panasonic Lumix and it did really good on a lot of pictures capturing the lighting and subject matter the way I wanted it too. The Bunny was just creepy. My wife said that the Cannolis in Qceanview on that day were increible.

 

That was it. Again this cruise, I read more than I ever have and got really into a puzzle book. It wasn't about being thrifty not doing much, it was just the type of break we needed. 2020 was the first year we hadn't cruised at least once since 2008 and for a while I thought I was tiring of cruising. Last year of no cruises and how much we enjoyed this one reminded me of why I love to cruise. I just think sometimes we get spoiled and don't realize what we have until it is gone, thankfully cruising is back!

Edited February 19, 2022 by cgolf1

[blueboro]

cgolf...can you tell me if they had robes in the cabin?

[cgolf1]

56 minutes ago, blueboro said:

cgolf...can you tell me if they had robes in the cabin?

Yes they did. We didn’t try them, but they looked decent enough, but not heavy. 

[cgolf1]

Day 5 St Kitts and Day 6 St Maarten

 

We did not depart the ship in St Kitts but did enjoy the scenery sailing in and out of port.

 

Show was Alexa Jayne (She will appear later as well). This was the first of a couple of shows we walked out of before it was over. She seemed to have a good voice if she stayed in her range, the problem was she tried to hard to sing the covers in the original artists range instead of hers and it didn't work. At this performance her stage presence wasn't good or interesting to us, so we headed out early. We ended up chilling out for the rest of the night. Food highlight for my wife was the poached pear in phyllo dough. 

 

In St Marten there were 6 ships so it almost felt like normal briefly. We got off the ship before the Oasis class ships let people off and bought some items for our daughter. We have been here many times, but this is the first time we noticed the goats on the hill. I think the fact that it was lightly raining helped us out keeping the crowds at a minimum. Supper highlights were the crab crusted flounder for me and the Herb roasted chicken for my wife.

 

The show that night was comedy magician Steve Marshall. We ended up leaving what turned out to be around 15 minutes early. To be fair I dislike magic shows, but this was just different. This was more his life story with a few magic tricks worked into it. It just wasn't for us. Would be curious is others who have seen him have a different opinion. 

 

We did go to the 10 pm Shades of Buble show in the reflections lounge and it was a terrific show again. They play music for all age groups which is really nice. We know even we are in the younger segment of the crowd at this point in our lives.

 

That was about it. We were just really enjoying the downtime.

[cgolf1]

When we were in St Maarten I noticed something strange with the hull plates on the bow of the Marella Discovery just above the waterline. They appear to be buckled inward slightly. I wonder if anyone like @chengkp75 has knowledge if this is an issue or not. I have never seen this before and am very curious. 

[Silkroad]

Just returned to CC after a crazy week and spotted your great review. Though we’ve sailed on two of her sisters, we’ve not yet sailed on Connie. Thanks for posting your experiences and lovely photos.  As a fellow music lover, I know exactly what you mean about that special quality that makes a live music performance great. You’ve made me hungry for Indian food😋 I rarely miss a day at the Indian food station on Celebrity ships. 

 

Overall, did you and your DW enjoy your cruises on Connie and Edge equally? How did sailing out of the port of Tampa compare to your experiences in Ft. Lauderdale? I’ve really enjoyed your observations and photos and I’d love to see more if you feel like posting.

[cgolf1]

1 hour ago, Silkroad said:

Just returned to CC after a crazy week and spotted your great review. Though we’ve sailed on two of her sisters, we’ve not yet sailed on Connie. Thanks for posting your experiences and lovely photos.  As a fellow music lover, I know exactly what you mean about that special quality that makes a live music performance great. You’ve made me hungry for Indian food😋 I rarely miss a day at the Indian food station on Celebrity ships. 

 

Overall, did you and your DW enjoy your cruises on Connie and Edge equally? How did sailing out of the port of Tampa compare to your experiences in Ft. Lauderdale? I’ve really enjoyed your observations and photos and I’d love to see more if you feel like posting.

I can’t really say which we enjoyed more. This cruise was our first back since February 2020 and we were content to read a book or work on a puzzle book while watching the ocean pass. The Edge we were in our cruising routine and did a lot more. I actually did an edge review when it first came out. 
 

We sailed on the edge on one of the first handful of cruises when they were still holding onto the hope of drawing in a younger crowd. The music around the ship and in the theatre shows suited our tastes perfectly, but I know it didn’t for many. We are on the edge next year so it will be interesting to see what changes have been made music wise. Pros on the Edge were the huge pool walking path and the flow of the ship in general. Our favorite spot to hang out was the controversial magic carpet. It may look weird on a ship, but is a great place to hang out especially when leaving a port. Really liked the different dining rooms vs going to the same one. Huge downside was the lack of forward views for non retreat guests. Solarium pool was ok, but nothing special. 
 

Connie is a very nice ship, but for some reason the flow didn’t seem as good as the edge. I believe I only walked through cellar masters once. The solarium pool on the other hand is amazing. Would love one of these at home. I also think Connie would have a different feel with 2000+ on it vs the under 600 we had. Not sure I answered your question but we would gladly sail both in the future.  
 

Fort Lauderdale is an ok port but it’s is expensive to fly to and stay there. Tampa is cheaper to fly to and we found a hotel that you could walk to port from. In the future we would prefer to sail out of Tampa unless the itinerary or ship choice pushes us to a different port. 
 

I will be posting some more pictures over the next few days. Just didn’t take a lot of ship specific pics this cruise. 
 

Now that I finally noticed your username I think we have had some convos on here about the edge when she first came out. 

Edited February 23, 2022 by cgolf1

[cgolf1]

Some random pictures of the rooftop terrace where we spent a ton of time on the seating on the side of the ship, but not the middle seats facing the screen. We did have chair hogs believe it or not. The same people it seemed would lay claim to these wide loungers in the solarium. I personally never thought they were that comfortable anyways. I believe that hanging thing is a Chihuly and yes I just confirmed it with google. The had some on the Disney ships is how I recognized it. Wish that was on the trivia, as we might have had a chance.

[Silkroad]

16 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

Now that I finally noticed your username I think we have had some convos on here about the edge when she first came out. 

Yes, I remember your Edge review, and we had some discussions about music and cabins when I was posting my Edge review (April 2019, on her first transatlantic with passengers). 
 

Early in this review, you mentioned that you had heard some people on your Edge cruise telling others not to think the Edge experience was the typical Celebrity experience. That was what made me ask what you thought after having tried a Millennium class ship. Personally, I’ve found the three ship classes unique in some ways, but I’ve found the overall “Celebrity experience” very similar across the ship classes. We sailed on Edge again last October, and we’re to sail on Equinox in a few weeks (fingers crossed) so we’ll have another opportunity to compare two ship classes. 
 

Thanks for the information about Tampa. We’ll definitely try sailing out of Tampa if we can find the right itinerary. I love the thought of being able to walk from the hotel to the ship. Thus far, we’ve only been able to do so in Southampton. 

[cgolf1]

58 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

Yes, I remember your Edge review, and we had some discussions about music and cabins when I was posting my Edge review (April 2019, on her first transatlantic with passengers). 
 

Early in this review, you mentioned that you had heard some people on your Edge cruise telling others not to think the Edge experience was the typical Celebrity experience. That was what made me ask what you thought after having tried a Millennium class ship. Personally, I’ve found the three ship classes unique in some ways, but I’ve found the overall “Celebrity experience” very similar across the ship classes. We sailed on Edge again last October, and we’re to sail on Equinox in a few weeks (fingers crossed) so we’ll have another opportunity to compare two ship classes. 
 

Thanks for the information about Tampa. We’ll definitely try sailing out of Tampa if we can find the right itinerary. I love the thought of being able to walk from the hotel to the ship. Thus far, we’ve only been able to do so in Southampton. 

 

 

The best I can say is that this trip along with the Edge trip has convinced us that Celebrity is our go to cruise line for the foreseeable future. The food is great and they are super good with my gluten intolerance and the level of service is the best we have had on a cruise ship. Celebrity just seems to do it right. 

[Bellfree Bat]

1 hour ago, Silkroad said:

Yes, I remember your Edge review, and we had some discussions about music and cabins when I was posting my Edge review (April 2019, on her first transatlantic with passengers). 
 

Early in this review, you mentioned that you had heard some people on your Edge cruise telling others not to think the Edge experience was the typical Celebrity experience. That was what made me ask what you thought after having tried a Millennium class ship. Personally, I’ve found the three ship classes unique in some ways, but I’ve found the overall “Celebrity experience” very similar across the ship classes. We sailed on Edge again last October, and we’re to sail on Equinox in a few weeks (fingers crossed) so we’ll have another opportunity to compare two ship classes. 
 

Thanks for the information about Tampa. We’ll definitely try sailing out of Tampa if we can find the right itinerary. I love the thought of being able to walk from the hotel to the ship. Thus far, we’ve only been able to do so in Southampton. 

In December, we went from Apex to Connie, with 2 days in-between, and loved both! Apex was hip and modern and Connie more of classic cruising. The food and service on both were impeccable, as you would expect from Celebrity. There were only 400 guests onboard our sailing so like having a private yacht!

[dgoz]

On 2/18/2022 at 12:51 PM, cgolf1 said:

 

Yeh I was impressed with the taste too. I expected a metallic taste as well and never got it. I believe we each had 4-5 bottles a day. Unfortunately now that I am back home I barely touch water again. In fairness though it was very warm on the cruise and the water just tasted good. The French Caribbean slushy drinks were great too, but not a good idea to hydrate with those;)

What is this delicious looking concoction you are holding?

 

[Waihekean]

Thanks for your review. Have not been on CC for ages and are so exited to go on a cruise again. We are leaving from Tampa too and on December 23 this year "22. We are from New Zealand and do not know much about the Caribbean, so I am soaking up any info I can find here. We will be on the Connie as well.😉

 

[cgolf1]

1 hour ago, dgoz said:

What is this delicious looking concoction you are holding?

 

 

It is a French Caribbean. They say passion fruit puree and coconut rum blended with ice till super slushy, then pour some black raspberry liqueur in the bottom of your glass and  then pour the blended bit over and enjoy. My wife liked it so much she bought a high quality blender to make them with:)

Edited February 24, 2022 by cgolf1

[cgolf1]

Day 7 St Thomas

 

We docked at the alternate port along with an oasis ship. We did see another Celebrity ship at the downtown docks. We didn't really care because this is a port we rarely get off the ship anymore. In the past we have found the people to try and get you on a trip were very pushy and even a bit in the stores. They have updated the alternate dock area since we are last there and even have a handful of shops now.

 

Early in the cruise we had asked guest services to get to the heli pad, and they said it is by invite only, but they would try to get us one and they were successful for the sail out of St Thomas. We were very glad we didn't do an excursion after we saw the super full snorkel boat, picture page one. We were mostly concerned about becoming a close contact which I believe means you lose at least one day of your cruise until you test negative for a long enough time period. At breakfast someone was talking to one of the stage show cast and they commented that we wouldn't see them perform this cruise because not enough were healthy.

 

The sail out was actually pretty cool. Once the crowd thinned out we were able to get up front and get some nice pictures. We are glad we got the opportunity to be out there, very similar to the Royal ships we have been on, except for the Connie you have to go through a crew area to get out there.

 

Meals supper was of course very good, but the stand out dish for me was the Shepard's pie from the buffet. This again was a flavor packed and very enjoyable. If it wasn't so filling I could have had a second one.

 

The evening show was CeCe Teneal doing a Tribute to Aretha. She was an incredible singer with a great stage presence as well. Her range and power in her voice bordered on insane. 99 times out of 100 someone sings that loud you say they are more shouting than singing, this is that 1 out of a100 gem that just crushes it. It was a great show and recommend that anyone go see her, because Aretha has songs pretty much everyone recognizes so this show should appeal to a wide age range.

[cgolf1]

Day 8 Puerto Plata

 

Today we definitely showed what type of cruise mode we were in. They had paracord bracelet making that we wanted to do and we were back on deck 12 relaxing and decided it wasn't worth the walk and we would continue to hang out back lol.

 

We actually got off the ship and walked down to the little shop area at the entrance to the port. The shops were very nice and as you can see from the pictures they put a lot of work into the area. Next time we visit we want to see more of the island, but for now a short walk off the pier was very nice. I did stop at diamonds international to look at watches and thankfully they didn't have any on my list since I had purchased and Invicta, I know I never thought I would buy one either, that was a very classy cool green bay packer watch the night before with our OBC we weren't using.

 

For food I found the mashed potatoes and the gluten free gravy were awesome and I had them with lunch the rest of the days of the trip. My wife enjoyed the vegetarian wellington at dinner. It was a pleasant surprise as she thought she wouldn't like it, but wanted to keep ordering items from the changing section of the menu.

 

The show that night was Ukebox, or a group of 4 guys that play different types of Ukulele's including a bass and a kazoolectric Uke (Electric Uke with a Kazoo attached). These guys were awesome and they had a lot of fun and the show was a lot of fun to watch. One guy had a very odd tone to his voice, wife didn't care for it, but I thought it just added to the fun of the show. The kazoolectric player was fun to watch as he moved around the stage a lot and a little silly in how he did it. The Kazoo playing was actually really spot on and believe it or not added to the song in a really good way. Really recommend this act they were very entertaining and very good at their craft.

 

Watching the pilot leave the Connie, it was rough enough that the pilot boat had another person on deck to grab hold of the pilot and soon as they got onto the pilot boat. It was really rough as the pilot boat approached. Right before the pilot left it felt like we turned a little to block the wind a little for them and it looked like it helped.

[KKB]

TY for sharing!!

Connie was our 1st Celebrity cruise & started the love affair.

Did the Edge for 2 weeks last summer & it was a DREAM--I LOVE LOVE LOVE unfull ships!

Apex in 2 weeks.

 

[cgolf1]

Day 9 Sea Day 3

 

Well I am super glad we sailed during the pandemic. I don't think that we will ever sail on a ship again with 564 people on a ship that regularly carries over 2000. Now the pandemic sucks, but this was a very special experience. 

 

One thing we noticed is that the officers were out and about and very visible this trip, which was nice to see. The CD was all over the ship and we saw her many times. One thing that seems to be unique to Celebrity, is that the theatre staff and the entertainers were out and about with the general public. We also noticed this on the Edge as well, but never on Disney or Royal.

 

Did pretty good on the progressive putting and was hoping I was setup for a good finish the next day. That afternoon we saw a matinee show from Ukebox in the reflections lounge and again they put on an amazing show. During the afternoon I noticed a big fish jumping in the wake and my wife saw it too followed by the backs of 3 dolphins, very cool along with the solo dolphin we saw leaving Tampa.

 

Dinner highlights were the surf and turf I had. The steak was excellent especially with the added butter on top and apparently they thought I needed two lobster tails.

 

The evening show was Anne Martinez. We ended up walking out of this show. For my wife it was too loud. For me she was a great technical singer, but she just didn't connect with the songs. Sounded like she had an extensive musical theatre background so that may explain it.

 

Then the show that was a huge surprise for me in a good way. Haden Smith and his wife Alex Jane Smith were doing a dance party at 10. We went and sat on the side ready to bail up in the reflections lounge. Remember my fairly harsh criticisms of Alexa's solo performance, what we got was pure magic and one of the best live performances I have seen in a long time! Alexa had a tremendous stage presence and sang the crap out of every song. She must have been in a band at some point because she was a natural and had limitless energy and worked the crowd as well. She sang all the songs in her range, lowering a couple and it was amazing to listen too. I am really glad we didn't skip this show. Hayden was awesome as well and singing and on the saxophone. 

 

We just happened to listen to Hayden's cd today finally and noticed on the Whitney song she lowered it into her range. Wish there was a way to pass on to her that if she bought the energy and the vocals to her main stage act she would bring the house down.

 

One more day to go on this trip, and it is kind of a bummer writing about it because I want back on!

[cgolf1]

Day 10 Last Sea Day

 

This was the day of the big list noted on page 1. Also forgot to mention that on Day 9 I had to go to guest services to figure out how to add extra gratuities to people around the ship and I asked about the Covid numbers. They said we were running under 2% this cruise which was a lot better than the cruise before.

 

I tried the golf chipping again and was sitting good on my first two shots and totally choked the third shot. The the finals of the progressive putting. I made a mess of it, but got in position to sink a tough putt to score what was pretty much the average low number for the group. Thank goodness I made it because it gave me solo second with a prize of a very nice Celebrity lanyard and cards that actually say Celebrity on them, gift shop doesn't sell those surprisingly. The guy who one putted very well and has a son on the PGA tour, not sure if he had played professionally or not. It was a lot of fun and my wife even enjoyed it.

 

Tried to do the night show of Paul Hughes and the music just wasn't for us. To be fair I probably wanted to get back to the super bowl. Being a Green Bay fan, I was really routing for Matthew Stafford to get a Super Bowl win after wasting all those years with the Lions. Not sure what it will take to turn the Lions around. Game was good except for the referees, and the halftime show was the best they have had in a while.

 

Sadly that brings a great cruise to an end. On the last day you look back and think it went fast, but we just used this cruise to relax and not run all over the place to do everything we could. Honestly I kind of enjoyed cruising this way, it makes the cruise feel just a bit longer. Next cruise though on the Edge we will probably be running all over the place, we will see next year:)

[cgolf1]

Now that we have sailed the Edge and the Connie, we have seen enough to determine Celebrity is our go to cruise line right now. Between the food, service, and just what is available to do Celebrity is for us. One thing we are ok with is that the musical performances may not be to our tastes all the time but that is ok. 
 

Locking forward to our next 2 cruises on the Edge and the Expedition. Yeh we couldn’t pass up the sales on the expedition, like ships sailing 25ish percent full don’t think those sales will come around again. 

[cgolf1]

Tonight’s drink, had to use mango purée and on because we haven’t found passion fruit purée yet. We did see the use this combo on the ship too. It is very good but I agree with my wife it is a summer drink not a winter drink. 

[Von & John]

Thanks for the great review!!!

We’ll be headed to Tampa in 3 weeks & boarding on 03/18...

Looking Forward to relaxation, sun, warmth & no snow blowing !!!!