Some Quick Thoughts about the Constellation

[kelmac]

Lauren and I just returned from the March 21st cruise of the Constellation and had a wonderful time.

We cruised this ship when it was brand new in 2002 (Baltic) and was pleased to see she is holding up very well at age six.

 

Below is a list of information and bit of the "Mac O'meter" rating our impression of this 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise:

 

Captain = Dimitris Manetas

Cruise Director = John Grantham (his first cruise as a CD)

Captain's Club Hostess = Marissa

 

Friday, March 21.....Casual.....dept Ft Lauderdale.....4:30

Sat, March 22.....Formal.....at sea.....................

Sun, March 23......Informal...at sea....................

Mon, March 24......Casual.....St Thomas...............7:00 -- 18:00

Tue, March 25......Formal.....St Kitts...................8:00 -- 15:00

Wed, March 26......Casual......Barbados.................9:00 -- 18:00

Thur, March 27......Informal....St Lucia..................7:00 -- 16:00

Fri, March 28......Casual......St Maartin...............8:00 -- 17:00

Sat, March 29......Formal......at sea.....................

Sun, March 30......Casual......at sea.....................

Mon, March 31...................arrive Ft Lauderdale.....7:00am

 

 

1 == poor 5 == average 10 == superior

 

Precruise.....Bahia Mar Hotel.....8.2 -- this hotel is better than the recent reviews over on TripAdvisor; old and a bit worn, but nice beds and beddings. They are getting ready for a renovation/rebranding to a Hilton (I believe). Taxi to port w/tip = $16

 

Embarkation.....8.5 -- the group getting off the ship was running a bit late. We arrived at 11:30; waited about 20 minutes; gave Captain's Club members priority cards and we were on the ship by 12:00 noon.

 

Cruise Critic Group.....9.2 -- we did a small meet and greet at the Mast Bar after the Muster Drill. Connections party was next morning 10:30 in Michael's Club. Wonderful group; maybe 30 of the original 55 people showed up. No group photo; no Connection's Pins (probably because CD and CC hostess were new??) John the CD did talk to the group and Host Andy was in attendance as well. Good info from both!

 

Cabin.....8.1 -- over all in great shape; Constellation seems to have very modest decor compared to the other Millennium class ships. Everything worked well. Only down side was a bathroom floor in need of a re-grouting -- water was seeping into the wood base and when you walked on it water would squish up (Yuck). Cat 9 inside. PS -- the new beds and bedding are an improvement, however, not as good as the beds on the Millennium, and not as good as Holland America's beds/bedding.

 

Dining Room Cuisine....9.0 -- great food; presented well; some changes in the past year; all new menus starting this month; Asst Maitre'D indicated the new menus would include about 60% of the original items.

Service was excellent!!

 

Buffet.....8.4 -- good selections; ice cream was great; waffles were great; nice sandwich station; pasta station was very good, but slow.

 

Ocean Liners.....9.5 -- continues to be the best restaurant at sea; perfect service; all items were excellent; they did offer a few items not on the menu.

 

Entertainment.....8.2 -- we've seen it all in 30 cruises, so we attend very few shows. Celebrity Singers and Dancers seem better than average; Acapella Group "Ocean's Four" is outstanding and they performed all over the ship! Pool band "Top Notch" was fine. Greg the Pianist, Strings Quartet and Frank the Guitarist could be found in the Cova -- all very good. Big fan club of Perry Grant met in Michael's club several times for his shows. Celebrity Orchestra did a great job. David Meyer -- didn't see; Flying Dreams fine; Jeff Nease, old school but pretty funny.

 

Service.....9.0 -- ship wide the staff was friendly and did a wonderful job.

 

Fellow Passengers.....8.8 -- nice mix of age groups. For spring break, not that many children or teenagers. All were well behaved. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Standard number of chair hogs, but the pool staff was removing their stuff after a period of time. One weird guy with a towel over his head would center himself on deck 11 facing the topless sun-deck area. He was there almost every day.

 

Disembarkation.....9.5 -- Elite CC members met in the San Marco Restaurant and were allowed to leave the ship at 9:00am sharp. Cont breakfast was served.

 

Celebrity consistantly makes us feel special and remains our number one choice for cruising. We made our sixth visit to the Captain's Table and had a wonderful evening with Georgios Karlis the Chief Engineer. Roses in the room, chocolates, special $15 laundry rate, Captain's Table photo, Wine blending, Senior Officer's Cocktail Party, CC Cocktail Party..., We've toured the Galley, Backstage area, and the Bridge on other cruises, so we didn't revisit these. Marissa, the Captain's club hostess did a wonderful job!:)

 

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Enjoy!

Kel

[tbelian]

Thanks for the mini review/update on the Constellation, one of our favorite ships. This all seems to parallel our experience of 1/2008.

 

Thanks again.

[hugsthecat]

Thanks Kel for the review.. Is rhere anyway you can post this to our Dec.22nd cruise thread ?

 

Michael

 

P.S. I know how you liked the waffles..but what about Lauren ?

[Lois R]

Hi Kel:) thanks for the review. Glad you and Lauren had

your usual great time:D

 

I forgot you were sailing with Host Andy. Hopefully

one day I will have that pleasure as well:).

[Shmobo]

Thanks for the report on Connie!

 

Everything sounded so good............ :p

[jackdiamond]

Thank you Kelmac for the very fine review. We are departing on Sunday for the Millennium, and we will cruise on the Constellation in December. As a matter of fact, it will be the same cruise that you reviewed. After reading your presentation, I examined our Captains Club cards and I noted that they do not state that we are elite members, although we most certainly enjoy this status. Ergo, I would greatly appreciate your advising how you obtained the cards with that status contained thereon.

Thank you for your advice in this regard.

[lvz2cruz]

Kel,

Thanks for the very informative review.

We are hoping to do this cruise in December.

 

Jack,

Older cards show CC level, but the new ones do not. Your ticket should show your CC level.

[jackdiamond]

Thank you Becky. I just checked that goodie, and discovered an E next to both of our names, which I suspect means Elite.

[Texed]

Thanks Kel. :)

[JWJs]

Hi Kel. Sure enjoyed reading your comprehensive review! Glad you and Lauren had a wonderful cruise. Wow...another visit to the Captain's table!:) :) :) What fun!!! Hope Jim and I get an invite on our next cruise!

[Andy]

I forgot you were sailing with Host Andy. Hopefully

one day I will have that pleasure as well:).

 

Hi Lois !

 

Thank you for your very nice comment. Believe it or not, we booked Princess last month on a whim. I was very uncomfortable doing it, as we have been completely loyal to Celebrity over the past several years, but no more. They have lost our loyalty and trust. We did not have a good Cruise on Constellation. Now that we are off of Constellation, I am very happy that we booked another line. I am looking forward to trying Princess again, as its been quite some time since we sailed Princess. If the Cruise goes well, we will likely move our business to Princess for a while. Gee, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. Please stay in touch !

[Andy]

Thank you Becky. I just checked that goodie, and discovered an E next to both of our names, which I suspect means Elite.

 

Hi Jackdiamond !

 

Yes, that is correct. The E is for Elite.

[Lois R]

Hi Lois !

 

Thank you for your very nice comment. Believe it or not, we booked Princess last month on a whim. I was very uncomfortable doing it, as we have been completely loyal to Celebrity over the past several years, but no more. They have lost our loyalty and trust. We did not have a good Cruise on Constellation. Now that we are off of Constellation, I am very happy that we booked another line. I am looking forward to trying Princess again, as its been quite some time since we sailed Princess. If the Cruise goes well, we will likely move our business to Princess for a while. Gee, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. Please stay in touch !

 

Hi Andy, are you going to be writing a review for us?

Sorry you did not have a good cruise:(

[kelmac]

Thank you Kelmac for the very fine review. We are departing on Sunday for the Millennium, and we will cruise on the Constellation in December. As a matter of fact, it will be the same cruise that you reviewed. After reading your presentation, I examined our Captains Club cards and I noted that they do not state that we are elite members, although we most certainly enjoy this status. Ergo, I would greatly appreciate your advising how you obtained the cards with that status contained thereon.

Thank you for your advice in this regard.

 

Hi Jack,

 

When you check in during embarkation your sea pass card will have "Elite Member" printed just below your Folio Number. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Kel

[martini girl]

we were also just on the 3-21 sailing..last year sailed on rci. my thoughts are that the food has gone way down hill, too salty and everything seemed to taste the same..i am not picky but was very disappointed in the dining room food. i thought the food was much better during lunch buffets and aqua spa cafe. the disappearance of the european staff made a huge difference in the level of service. our cabin attendant was one of the few europeans on the ship and many of the staff were very unhappy and didn't mind saying so..there were many cost cutting measures that we noticed, one was the pool band "top notch" i couldn't wait for them to stop playing. everyone was complaining about the lack of a reggae band. also the bar service was not up to par except at the pool. we only went to the martini bar twice because the service was so bad, drinks were sent back and you couldn't get waited on. look for bobby on the pool deck, he will take very good care of you.

[edgee]

Thanks for the review, Kelmac. My wife and I were also on the March 21 Constellation cruise. This was our 3rd Celebrity cruise, but it had been 3 years since we have sailed with them. We felt the courtesy and followthrough to questions/concerns on the part of the staff was extraordinary and much improved from the past. The food was very good and overall the cruise was one our most enjoyable of the 14 we have done in the last 7 years. Other cruise lines we have sailed are HAL, Crystal, Cunard and Princess. We felt the Connie compared favorably to the back to back cruises we did last summer on the QM2.

 

Andy, I hope you write a review as I am most curious regarding the reasons for your displeasure with the cruise.

[ccletzgo]

we were also just on the 3-21 sailing..last year sailed on rci. my thoughts are that the food has gone way down hill, too salty and everything seemed to taste the same..i am not picky but was very disappointed in the dining room food. i thought the food was much better during lunch buffets and aqua spa cafe. the disappearance of the european staff made a huge difference in the level of service. our cabin attendant was one of the few europeans on the ship and many of the staff were very unhappy and didn't mind saying so..there were many cost cutting measures that we noticed, one was the pool band "top notch" i couldn't wait for them to stop playing. everyone was complaining about the lack of a reggae band. also the bar service was not up to par except at the pool. we only went to the martini bar twice because the service was so bad, drinks were sent back and you couldn't get waited on. look for bobby on the pool deck, he will take very good care of you.

 

so i am not the only one that felt like a salt shaker opened up on there meal.

The night I had chicken it was unreal how salty it was..

 

Other then that, I really have no complaints. The pool band didn't bother us because we spent all sea days on our FV balcony. :)

The ship was beautiful and all of our service was very good.