Another Live-ish, this time from the Constellation

[abbydancer2003]

Good Morning everyone.

 

Greetings from what's starting to look like my home away from home, the E gates United Club at SFO.  It's been two+ weeks since our last cruise, so I guess it's time to go again.  This time we're heading to Tampa, where we'll join the Constellation on Friday for a 12 day cruise to the Southern (and far west Caribbean.  It will be a new ship for us, which is, I believe our penultimate (I love that word) X ship besides the Galapagos to sail on.  (Millennium is the last).  We're also visiting 2 new ports, Colon Panama and Porto Limon, Costa Rica.  We also go to Cartagena Columbia.  We were last there on our honeymoon in 1998.  We booked this because our friends Arie and Cheryl @StartrainDD booked it and asked us to join them.  Seemed like a good idea, and we got one of the big Aqua sky suites, last one available (more on that when aboard).

 

We get to Tampa at around 5, and will have dinner with friends from Glen's very first X cruise back in 2017.  Tomorrow our friends will drive up from the east coast of Florida, and we'll hang out with them, and then board the ship on Friday.

 

Yesterday was just the normal packing, and last minute pharmacy run.  I did learn it's hard to find reef safe sunscreen in the Silicon Valley.

 

  Our driver picked us up at 6 this morning, and we got through security in 6 minutes, in spite of it looking busy.  We board in an hour.

 

 

Edited January 10 by abbydancer

[JDPCruisers]

4 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Good Morning everyone.

 

Greetings from what's starting to look like my home away from home, the E gates United Club at SFO.  It's been two+ weeks since our last cruise, so I guess it's time to go again.  This time we're heading to Tampa, where we'll join the Constellation on Friday for a 12 day cruise to the Southern (and far west Caribbean.  It will be a new ship for us, which is, I believe our penultimate (I love that word) X ship besides the Galapagos to sail on.  (Millennium is the last).  We're also visiting 2 new ports, Colon Panama and Porto Limon, Costa Rica.  We also go to Cartagena Columbia.  We were last there on our honeymoon in 1998.  We booked this because our friends Arie and Cheryl @StartrainDD booked it and asked us to join them.  Seemed like a good idea, and we got one of the big Aqua sky suites, last one available (more on that when aboard).

 

We get to Tampa at around 5, and will have dinner with friends from Glen's very first X cruise back in 2017.  Tomorrow our friends will drive up from the east coast of Florida, and we'll hang out with them, and then board the ship on Friday.

 

Yesterday was just the normal packing, and last minute pharmacy run.  I did learn it's hard to find reef safe sunscreen in the Silicon Valley.

 

  Our driver picked us up at 6 this morning, and we got through security in 6 minutes, in spite of it looking busy.  We board in an hour.

 

 

Look forward to your review as we were just on last month with the same itinerary. So, will be interested to hear your experiences. 

[Lena11033]

Looking forward to your review, I'm on this ship next month

[Texed]

4 hours ago, abbydancer said:

Greetings from what's starting to look like my home away from home, the E gates United Club at SFO.  It's been two+ weeks since our last cruise, so I guess it's time to go again. 

 

Lucky you.  🙂 

[abbydancer2003]

Quick update from the rest of today.  The flight was on time.  United now offers advanced meal selection in first/business class.  Last time I had the frittata thing that wasn't very good, so for today I'd ordered french toast.  It was apparently "Brie and Apricot" French toast.  Another thing I won't order again.  The brie in it didn't really go with it, and there was no syrup or anything.  The mango compote with it was good though.  

Note to self:  Simple is best.

 

Flight was on time, but the tournament that I was watching on Chopped wasn't over.  In addition to the final episode, I want to see who the last heat winner was.  There was about 2-3 minutes left on it when we started deplaning, so I sent Glen off and watched the end.  Hopefully I can see the finale on the way home.

 

As we were heading to the train to the terminal I looked at the hotel location, and realized it was less than 2 miles from the airport.  So I called, and they told me they did have a free shuttle, just call after we got our bags.  I don't know why I didn't know this before.  

 

Luggage to a while to arrive, but once it did, we found the shuttle waiting stop and within 12 minutes he was there, and we were in our room.  We were supposed to have dinner with friends from a cruise several years ago, but they had an issue with her parents, so we were on our own.  Driving to the hotel we passed a shopping center and a lot of restaurants nearby.  We decided to walk to one.

 

After getting to our room, checking out the concierge lounge and talking to my sister for a while, we decided to walk to the LongHorn steakhouse, a restaurant not found near us.  On the way out I asked about their shuttle and it will go anywhere in a 2 mile radius.  (Restaurant is, but we decided to walk.). However the port is about 5 so they won't take us there.

 

Before leaving, I checked to join the waitlist on the restaurant website, but it said a 0-15 minute wait.  SInce we were about 20 minutes away, I figured we should just go.  

 

20 minutes later, we arrived at the restaurant and the lobby was very crowded.  We were quoted a 20 minute wait.  You win some and you lose some.  However our wait was only about 6 minutes and it turned out that there were 2 10+ parties ahead of us, so they could get us in right away.  

 

We spent about an hour there having steak, salad, baked potato and iced tea.  They offered both sweetened and unsweetened iced tea, and our server was very amused that in the SF area, the only way in most places to get sweetened ice is by adding sweetener yourself.

 

We came back to the hotel, and I'm writing this, and as Glen said when I started, "It's only 6:30 our time".  However, we've been up since 5am, so I'll wrap this and say good night.  Tomorrow Arie and Cheryl join us around lunch time, and our adventure really begins.

 

[hcat]

Have a great cruise... will be following your posts.

 

.What hotel did you stay at?   What other places to eat are nearby?

 

We are driving distance to Tampa (in winter)  but have not yet cruised from that port.  Hope to hear more about it and gen condition of Constellation.  Been on her a few times but not recently..  AQ sky suite sounds interesting..enjoy!

[abbydancer2003]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

Have a great cruise... will be following your posts.

 

.What hotel did you stay at?   What other places to eat are nearby?

 

We are driving distance to Tampa (in winter)  but have not yet cruised from that port.  Hope to hear more about it and gen condition of Constellation.  Been on her a few times but not recently..  AQ sky suite sounds interesting..enjoy!

We're at the Marriott Tampa Westshore - near the airport.  In our wanderings nearby so far we've seen, as far as chains go, Longhorn, Olive Garden, Season 52, and a Waffle House.  There are more nearby but this is what we've seen so far.

 

[hcat]

1 minute ago, abbydancer said:

We're at the Marriott Tampa Westshore - near the airport.  In our wanderings nearby so far we've seen, as far as chains go, Longhorn, Olive Garden, Season 52, and a Waffle House.  There are more nearby but this is what we've seen so far.

 

Thanks..  we would probably do a few days pre cruise .... would love to see the aquarium.

[countess5]

Joining on! 

I have been looking for live reports to get us to February 10th when we sail on Ascent and Beyond for 28 days. 

 

We sailed Constellation to Croatia and enjoyed the suite life on her. I really liked the suite area, Michaels/Retreat whatever they are calling it now. Nice large area.

 

Cheers!  

[Jim_Iain]

Have a good trip Abby.    Been looking forward to a good Live Report.   

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

10 hours ago, hcat said:

Have a great cruise... will be following your posts.

 

.What hotel did you stay at?   What other places to eat are nearby?

 

We are driving distance to Tampa (in winter)  but have not yet cruised from that port.  Hope to hear more about it and gen condition of Constellation.  Been on her a few times but not recently..  AQ sky suite sounds interesting..enjoy!

When sailing from Tampa, be sure to book the valet parking at the terminal.  Otherwise you could be in for a long walk.  I didn't know about it when I sailed from there last January.

[hcat]

9 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

When sailing from Tampa, be sure to book the valet parking at the terminal.  Otherwise you could be in for a long walk.  I didn't know about it when I sailed from there last January.

thanks for the tip.. will  def note that 

[peanut head]

Thanks for taking us along.  We'll be heading out on Constellation next month.  If you can go into detail on the terminal and boarding process and taxi situation, that would be helpful.  Have a wonderful time.

[Jim_Iain]

Wow.... Abby ---- Just got a message from a friend that is on a B2B on Constellation.   As you probably know by now,  they have a big outbreak of Noro aboard and CDC is coming aboard and a full disinfection campaign is underway.    B2B's had to pack up and leave the ship and were taken to a mall as no passengers can be on the ship.   They had to totally leave their room so it can be disinfected.  

 

Just checked and it is already on the CDC site. 

[Lena11033]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

Wow.... Abby ---- Just got a message from a friend that is on a B2B on Constellation.   As you probably know by now,  they have a big outbreak of Noro aboard and CDC is coming aboard and a full disinfection campaign is underway.    B2B's had to pack up and leave the ship and were taken to a mall as no passengers can be on the ship.   They had to totally leave their room so it can be disinfected.  

 

Just checked and it is already on the CDC site. 

 

Didn't this happen last year too? I could be wrong but I vaguely remember CDC coming on board.

 

[DaKahuna]

19 hours ago, abbydancer said:

They offered both sweetened and unsweetened iced tea, and our server was very amused that in the SF area, the only way in most places to get sweetened ice is by adding sweetener yourself.

 

 Sweet tea is very much a southern thing.  Growing up there were many discussions in our family about which restaurant we would go to based on how their green tea tasted.  

 

I look forward to following your review. We will be sailing in an Aqua Sky Suite on her sister ship the Millennium in May. 

 

Edited January 11 by DaKahuna

[Jim_Iain]

45 minutes ago, Lena11033 said:

 

Didn't this happen last year too? I could be wrong but I vaguely remember CDC coming on board.

 

 

Yes when looking at last year

 

Summit    5/15 - 5/25

Constellation 3/6 - 3/17

Equinox 3/9 - 3/18

 

Hate to say it but over 85% of the outbreaks in 2023 were on Royal and Celebrity with only 1 on Princess and 1 on P&O. 

I've been on a ship once out of Barcelona and boarding was delayed 5+ hours.    Next cruise they shift to sanitation protocols -  Servers required for drinks, and buffet station, no salt and pepper shakers -  packets instead etc.   Kinda like after Covid.
 

Edited January 11 by Jim_Iain

[sunonfire]

1 hour ago, Lena11033 said:

 

Didn't this happen last year too? I could be wrong but I vaguely remember CDC coming on board.

 

Last March for the Constellation 

[abbydancer2003]

Today's summary coming later, but our boarding has been delayed, and apparently for B2B (thanks for the update, Jim) is going to be a hot mess.  Also happened to us on the Infinity in March.  I think boarding started around 12:30 then.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Sorry to learn of your delayed boarding. Hopefully noro will be eradicated and your cruise is nothing but smooth sailing. Following!!

[abbydancer2003]

We also had Noro delayed on the the Infinity last March.  No CDC though, since it was in Buenos Aires.  They did give the B2Bs (per a B2B friend) a free tour of the city.

[abbydancer2003]

Constellation Day 0 Tampa

 

We decided, after going to sleep on east coast time, to go to the lounge for breakfast.  It was, I’d say, a typical Marriott lounge breakfast on the small side.  Eggs and sausage, oatmeal, bread, bagels and fruit.  It was enough though.

 

After breakfast, we got a text that said that Arie & Cheryl would arrive around 10:45 per their GPS.  Glen found a Walgreens about 1/2 mile away, and we needed a couple of things so we walked over.  About when we got back we got a text that they were almost there.  

 

Soon we found out that they were in 1430, and the room had lounge access.  We met them there, and spent a while catching up and chatting.   They suggested we go to Tarpon Springs, a town about 25 minutes NE of Tampa, which was (and maybe still is) the sponge diving capital of the world.  Because sponge diving was done by the Greeks, the downtown is a greek village.  Sounded fun, so we went.  

 

We stopped at a convenience store called Wawa, apparently a big deal in the Northeast.  After getting some coffee, we headed on.

 

We arrived around 2pm, and spent a few minutes looking for parking.  (By the time we left, there was plenty of parking, so I think we came at the end of the busy time.). As we walked to downtown we found a bronze of the 4 nymphs, which clearly told us we were in a Greek area.

 

We walked around until we found a restaurant (Mama’s) and all had a nice greek lunch.  Glen and I had Gyro sandwiches, and split fries and a greek salad.  The fries and salad were good, and the Gyros was OK, good enough, but not the best I’ve ever had.

 

During lunch we got a message from Celebrity that, due to Noro, on the previous cruise, our boarding was delayed for a deep cleaning.  This was not unexpected, thanks to what I saw online yesterday.

 

We wandered back to the car, visiting some of the stores.  Most were gift shops that sold normal tourist items (tee shirts, hats, etc, etc, but also natural sponges.  We didn’t buy anything.

 

On the way back, we took some surface streets, and got back to the hotel around 5:00pm.  Arie parked the car to the side of the main lot, since they are leaving it here for the cruise.  We decided to meet in the lounge at around 5:45 for games and a bottle of wine they brought.

 

I’m taking a class, so before I went up, I emailed a document to myself that I need to use to write a short paper.  (I’ll do it next). I then met them at the lounge, but figured out how to print the document.  

 

Glen came up at around 6pm.  We grabbed some snacks from the lounge, and played one game of Splendor, and one of Around the World Fluxx.  We drank a very nice bottle of wine, and talked for a while.  Around 8:30, we called it a night.  We may see them for breakfast tomorrow, but we will definitely see them after, since we’re going to get an UBER together.  

 

We decided that we were a little hungry, but not enough to go to a restaurant, so we went to the hotel restaurant.  We ordered (it took about 15 minutes for somebody to come) 8 boneless chicken wings, and a Caesar salad.  They gave us a lot more than 8 and the salad was big.  

 

After finishing and waiting for the bill, I went to the front desk and asked for a noon checkout.  Turns out that’s the normal time.

 

As I got back, Glen had paid the bill and we were only charged for 8 wings.  

 

Back to the room to end a very nice day.

[abbydancer2003]

Detailed post on boarding coming tomorrow, as I'm falling asleep as I summerize.  Short version - hot mess to inconvenience, depending on your experience.  Ours was in the middle and we did get apologies for how it happened.  That said, we were on the ship quickly, so could have been way worse.

Good night.

[countess5]

On 1/11/2024 at 11:16 PM, abbydancer said:

We stopped at a convenience store called Wawa, apparently a big deal in the Northeast.  After getting some coffee, we headed on.

Living outside of Philadelphia WAWA is a big deal around here. There is actually the town of WAWA where it all began as a dairy then turned into convenient stores to now large stores with gas stations. They have spread down the East coast. You can’t swing a cat without hitting one. Family owned business. You can get a 20 oz cup of coffee for $2.😂

 

Cheer! 

[realnice46]

Thanks for trip updates, we sail on Connie in March and Tampa will be new to us.