Live From Celebrity Constellation 3/11-3/23

[jam19872016]

5 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Tip for parking in Tampa:  book the valet parking.  It costs a bit more, but you mentioned your mother has difficulty walking.  It can be a hike from the far reaches of the parking lot.  Money well spent.  Have a great cruise!

Is it customary to tip the valet driver? If so, how much is typical? 

[#55worktoplay]

1 hour ago, livetocruise2005 said:

I found a Norwegian Cruise that works in the middle.  It leaves the day after we get to Barcelona and it goes to Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece, and Croatia, and ends in Trieste for Venice. We get to spend 5 days in Venice before flying back to Barcelona to join the Mardi Gras on the trip back.  We are really liking that Carnival is doing so many of these for their Dry docks.

Sounds amazing. 

[#55worktoplay]

26 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

Is it customary to tip the valet driver? If so, how much is typical? 

5-10 each way seems reasonable to me.

[hcat]

3 minutes ago, #55worktoplay said:

5-10 each way seems reasonable to me.

agree!  esp if she has  luggage.. and carryon

[clochette]

looking forward to following you,  I really enjoyed your last trip report.  I am also curious to hear your impressions cruising out of Tampa, we really like the smaller ships, and might be tempted at some point to cruise from there,

[laurieal]

5 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Thanks for joining me again! 

 

I was very pleased with happy hour on my last trip. While I do like the ability to order anything, anywhere, with Royal's program, I did much better with unlimited drinks on Celebrity. They have a small menu to choose from but I did quite ok with the choices available and the unlimited drinks was nice it just required having a way to store the drinks for later in the evening. Pours got very generous later in the week because I tipped $1 with each drink. Maybe many people don't tip on their elite drinks? They were unexpectedly generous at many bars.

 

In a pinch, drinks are also free in the casino if you order from a server. Drink service was quick and available to all active players not just those with casino status. I would not be surprised to see that policy changed if it became a popular work around, but for now I think most have the included drinks package (that is more expensive to book than not included, so is it really included?).

 

If it is really really a slow day, check out my TA cruise review, that was such a fabulous trip and I am hoping to duplicate it in 2025 when Carnival offers it again!

 

 

 

Thanks for the rec! It will take several slow days to make it through the whole thing (154 pages!?) but I'm enjoying it so far. In my current cake-craving state, Carnival's cake slices look good enough to make me cancel my Oasis cruise and jump ship.

 

I had never heard that about Celebrity's casino drinks, but we will definitely need to try it out for science.

[tcmagnum]

9 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Hopefully I am worrying for nothing with the fan. It is just super important to my comfort especially sharing the room, I am such a light sleeper and my mom is an early morning riser.

As someone who always travels with a small fan, I get you. 
Hopefully you have no issue.

We cruise out of Tampa last year and I had no issue with my fan.   
But we did have issue with fog…It was very foggy and the cruise before us didn’t get in until after 3:00pm.  
Sucked big time.  We didn’t board until after 5:00. And it was a cluster f***. No lines, just push your way to the front.

But we got on board and the cruise was wonderful!!!

[jam19872016]

7 hours ago, #55worktoplay said:

5-10 each way seems reasonable to me.

 

7 hours ago, hcat said:

agree!  esp if she has  luggage.. and carryon

Just to make sure I understand, this is not the porter we are talking about right? The valet will be handling my car not my luggage. Or do they take care of that also?

[jam19872016]

7 hours ago, #55worktoplay said:

Sounds amazing. 

Indeed, plus NCL must be having trouble filling them as I can book us each in our own room both ways and pay less than if we shared a room. How crazy is that! 

4 hours ago, clochette said:

looking forward to following you,  I really enjoyed your last trip report.  I am also curious to hear your impressions cruising out of Tampa, we really like the smaller ships, and might be tempted at some point to cruise from there,

I will be sure to report on my experience in Tampa 🙂 Thanks for following along. If you like the smaller ships I think Tampa would be a great choice, it can't be worse than Miami and unlike Jacksonville, it does more than just Bahamas runs.

[jam19872016]

3 hours ago, laurieal said:

Thanks for the rec! It will take several slow days to make it through the whole thing (154 pages!?) but I'm enjoying it so far. In my current cake-craving state, Carnival's cake slices look good enough to make me cancel my Oasis cruise and jump ship.

 

I had never heard that about Celebrity's casino drinks, but we will definitely need to try it out for science.

Not a quick read for sure 😅. It was 56 days long so it was a lot of ground to cover. Don't go canceling that Oasis trip trip, since that cruise they have switched to a different cake that is pre sliced sheet cake and not nearly as good. They still have the pretty cake on display, but serve from the dried out two day old tasting squares first. One or two options a day were still freshly sliced but who knows how long before they all go. Sad because they ruined a wonderful thing those cakes were simply amazing.

 

I don't think a lot of people are aware of the free casino drinks because so many have the drinks bundled in with their cruise price, but it is a nice thing they offer and comes in handy when you need a beverage!

 

1 hour ago, tcmagnum said:

As someone who always travels with a small fan, I get you. 
Hopefully you have no issue.

We cruise out of Tampa last year and I had no issue with my fan.   
But we did have issue with fog…It was very foggy and the cruise before us didn’t get in until after 3:00pm.  
Sucked big time.  We didn’t board until after 5:00. And it was a cluster f***. No lines, just push your way to the front.

But we got on board and the cruise was wonderful!!!

I think I need to check the forecast for fog now! We should be coming to the end of fog season but not out of the woods yet. 

 

I once took a cruise out of Mobile Alabama which is also prone to fog delays and we ended up being delayed several hours, and had to fight Mardi Gras traffic. I was big into the casino at the time, it never opened on the first night since we did not sail until midnight. Then to make up for missing our first port of call, they gave us an overnight in Cozumel, so no casino on day 1, 3, or 4 and I don;t play the last night on Carnival because they don't count your points that night towards comps, so day 5 was out also. It was hard to not be completly bummed out about that entire trip. The only good thing, I did really well and actually walked away ahead that trip.

[jam19872016]

Weather looks good so far 👌 

 

[princess76021]

11 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

I missed you last cruise! Glad you made it aboard although you will now how to sit through the extended muster drill just to make sure you remember what to do 😋

Thanks for following along!

I didn't realize I missed one!  I don't usually frequent these boards! Usually carnival and then

  when someone says they are doing a live on another board!

 

where did you go without me?  Why didn't you yell for me!😆😆😇😇

 

Good going in the weight department!!

 

 

Hugs from Texas

[jam19872016]

3 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

  Why didn't you yell for me

I did 😀

 

 

3 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

 

Good going in the weight department!!

Thank you 😊 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, jam19872016 said:

 

Just to make sure I understand, this is not the porter we are talking about right? The valet will be handling my car not my luggage. Or do they take care of that also?

Yes, the valet will be parking your car.  You may or may not need a porter for the luggage, depending on what you have.  At some point, you need to hand your checked luggage over to the shoreside luggage collectors.

[princess76021]

1 hour ago, jam19872016 said:

I did 😀

 

 

Thank you 😊 

Oh crap!!  I never did see this, sorry!!

 

I'm here now 😁😁 yay!!

 

Hugs

[jam19872016]

Checking through the app this morning, I don't see a lot of entertainment that interests me. I guess I am probably not the target demographic for a 12 day cruise so should not be too surprised. I don't see some of the staples of a Celebrity cruise such as a Queen or an Abba party. I do see silent disco offered three times, so I am looking forward to checking that out. Just as well I suppose, as I need to turn in a little bit earlier than normal as I know my mom will be anxious to get her day going much earlier than I would normally be awake.

 

I checked out the first night's menu and I am quickly reminded it is my least favorite of the dinner menus. I really struggle with the variety on Celebrity's menus, not a lot of good choices in my opinion. I remember skipping the appetizer round last cruise because there is just nothing for me besides the every day options and it shaves a good amount of time off the meal service skipping that course. Since I will be with my mom I am sure she will be ordering an appetizer so no time saving there. I may try to steer her towards the buffet on night one, they usually have a stir fry station every night that I know she would enjoy I just wouldn't want her to decide that she wants to eat there every night. I do enjoy a sit down dinner, just find myself not crazy about the choices especially on the first night.

 

Two strikes against me and then I checked my room out. No idea why I didn't pay any attention to this before but it looks live I've got myself an Ocean View room. I really like how dark it is in an inside cabin and can never quite achieve that in a window room, even with good curtains. The good news is even though I am below a public deck, I don't see anything above me but cabins so it should not have any noise issues.

[bluewater1298]

You sound so depressed. Hope it goes better than you think. Two reason to do the buffet on first night - top deck view of sailing under the bridge and eating stir fry while watching the sunset. Your mom will probably like that idea and she can have the dining room 11 other nights. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

No idea why I didn't pay any attention to this before but it looks live I've got myself an Ocean View room. I really like how dark it is in an inside cabin and can never quite achieve that in a window room, even with good curtains.

 

How does this happen? Did you have nothing to do with booking the cruise? If you did, how do you accidentally book a cabin type you don't want?

[exlondoner]

4 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Checking through the app this morning, I don't see a lot of entertainment that interests me. I guess I am probably not the target demographic for a 12 day cruise so should not be too surprised. I don't see some of the staples of a Celebrity cruise such as a Queen or an Abba party. I do see silent disco offered three times, so I am looking forward to checking that out. Just as well I suppose, as I need to turn in a little bit earlier than normal as I know my mom will be anxious to get her day going much earlier than I would normally be awake.

 

I checked out the first night's menu and I am quickly reminded it is my least favorite of the dinner menus. I really struggle with the variety on Celebrity's menus, not a lot of good choices in my opinion. I remember skipping the appetizer round last cruise because there is just nothing for me besides the every day options and it shaves a good amount of time off the meal service skipping that course. Since I will be with my mom I am sure she will be ordering an appetizer so no time saving there. I may try to steer her towards the buffet on night one, they usually have a stir fry station every night that I know she would enjoy I just wouldn't want her to decide that she wants to eat there every night. I do enjoy a sit down dinner, just find myself not crazy about the choices especially on the first night.

 

Two strikes against me and then I checked my room out. No idea why I didn't pay any attention to this before but it looks live I've got myself an Ocean View room. I really like how dark it is in an inside cabin and can never quite achieve that in a window room, even with good curtains. The good news is even though I am below a public deck, I don't see anything above me but cabins so it should not have any noise issues.

Just think how lovely it will be, if you wake in the night (which you probably won’t, being so young), to be able to look out onto the sea, and see the moon glittering on the waves and the stars twinkling above. And, if you don’t wake, it won’t be a problem.

Edited March 9 by exlondoner

[jam19872016]

All done with work.

 

Gassed up and now I'm on my way to my mom's house.

 

 

Shallow 🎶 

[hcat]

22 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Yes, the valet will be parking your car.  You may or may not need a porter for the luggage, depending on what you have.  At some point, you need to hand your checked luggage over to the shoreside luggage collectors.

Seems some confusion by OP.with valet and porters,  and now I am confused!

 

We self parked for Terminal 25 (Ascent) after we dropped off our luggage..so just had carry- ons to board with.

 

We were concerned how we would get our luggsge and carry-ons to our car after the cruise....and had no info about the port's valet service. 

 

We lucked out. Had a great porter who took all our stuff up to our  car in  the garage and helped load the car.  Well worth the big tip!

 

note to self.. travel lighter next time!

[jam19872016]

11 hours ago, bluewater1298 said:

You sound so depressed. Hope it goes better than you think. Two reason to do the buffet on first night - top deck view of sailing under the bridge and eating stir fry while watching the sunset. Your mom will probably like that idea and she can have the dining room 11 other nights. 

No it's not that bad. Depressed is how I will feel after the cruise is over 😅. 

 

9 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Just think how lovely it will be, if you wake in the night (which you probably won’t, being so young), to be able to look out onto the sea, and see the moon glittering on the waves and the stars twinkling above. And, if you don’t wake, it won’t be a problem.

Not sure I will be able to see much as low down as I will be. Curtain will be drawn anyway so the sun won't disturb me too badly in the morning 🙂

 

[jam19872016]

11 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

How does this happen? Did you have nothing to do with booking the cruise? If you did, how do you accidentally book a cabin type you don't want?

I booked using through the casino using their web form. I must have felt like the room was ok enough not to call in about it and just forgotten. It's not in a terrible location just unexpected having the window. Short term memory I guess 😅

[jam19872016]

Well I made it to my mom's. I got caught in a monsoon on the drive, but I did make it in one piece. We have decided to head down a day early and book a hotel. I'll share more details tomorrow but I want to go ahead and try to get some sleep, been a long day 😴

 

Good night everyone.

[jam19872016]

Good morning.

 

We decided to go ahead and head to Tampa today instead of trying to make it in the morning. I didn't do a ton of research on cruise and park hotels so no idea what I've gotten myself into, especially since I found such an affordable option.

 

I've booked Quality Inn and Suites. All in cost was just $192 and that includes the room, parking for up to 14 days, breakfast, and round trip transportation to the port. The reviews aren't stellar but that seems to be related to the accommodations. We are not picky and as long as it is clean we have no problem with a budget hotel. I'll report back on my experience.

 

Doing some last minutes things now and then we will be Tampa bound.