CONSTELLATION mini review 11/13-11-20

[sweetair]

 

hiya guys,

this was my 4th time on the connie. Things were different and things were the same. I am going to preface this review by 2 things: the weather was mostly cloudy/rainy and i normally do not do excursions just beachy things.

 

saturday:embarkation was a breeze at 4pm.

I like Oceanliners on embarkation day. Less noise and a bit more pampering. You need to be seated by 7:30pm It takes about 3 hours to experience dinner and lifeboat drill starts at 10:30pm. Dinner was wonderful as usual (i had mentioned to angel the maitre'd that i couldn't wait for the chocolate souffle, He said its not normally done on saturday but they arranged for me to have it :) ) The goat cheese souffle is yummy. Had filet mignon with truffle sauce.

i slept thru lifeboat drill(shuuush dont tell anyone)

 

sunday:caso d campo...weather was cloudy/rainy...was going to take the excursion to catalina island but weather changed my mind. Note: no facilities on the island..no chairs/umbrellas or amenities.

i have already seen the marina (a big nothing) and didnt want to go to altos d chevron this trip(both of these places have free shuttle buses)

The CASINO opens 5pm at this port even though the ship doesnt sail until 11pm Yaaaaaaaaaaay I was happy to donate!

Dinner was semi formal and met our tablemates.

 

monday: day at sea...the captain finally found sun around 12pm and i didn't move from the pool till 4pm. Onyx my favorite caribbean band on celebrity) played.

Ask them to play Conquest of Paradise!!! This musical piece is amazing and really shows their talents with their instruments!

Dinner is formal. We had a surprise dinner guest Nikos the hotel manager. What a treat! this man is warm, personable and fun to talk to. He really made my cruise memorable!

 

Tuesday:barbados..Went to the boatyard (ship staff go here a lot) $12 entrance fee and you get chairs/umbrellas and $5 towards food or drink. Baby powder sand and calm waters. they have a trampoline and a blow-up mountain to climb in the water. You are not bothered by peddlers here. They ask once and move on. We had sun for about 4 hours while the rest of the island was in torrential rain! I was a very happy camper. We did have a treat on the beach..some of the guys from cirque d soliel were "performing" on the beach for about an hour. I have to say What they can do with their bodies is so UNNATURAL and amazing!

We had dinner at Oceanliners again tonight. They had a special of pasta and shrimp/scallops Delicious!

This night in the casino was great and strange...I was playing craps with 2 other PAX and at 2:45am they said casino closing 15 minutes and the craps boss said last 2 shooters Well the one guy was shooting until 3:40am. The whole casino was closed except for us! I had a blast!

 

Wednesday: dominica...I was sooooooo looking forward to doing the wacky river tubing but because of rain It was cancelled.I couldn't book anything else because it was too late, so i bought 2 glass dolphins and Back to the ship to sleep. Rained all day finally saw sun from 4pm-4:07pm

Dinner was semi formal.

 

Thursday: antigua..My friends were on the golden princess and their ship met me here.We went to Dickinsons bay. I like this beach..chairs/umbrellas and food available. We had about 2 hours of sun and he told me how much he was "hating" the golden princess. He complained about bad food ,rude staff and old old passengers. The golden leaves on sunday and their weather was just as bad as ours was. We ate at the beach because he said he was starving I was laughing! Then went back to the pier..walked around/drank a few/shopped a bit and he tried to steal my cruisecard to get on the connie.

 

Dinner is formal..i was invited to the staff captains table for dinner along with 5 others from our table of 8. We were also invited to the captains club party. I was brought onstage and honored with a huge bouquet of flowers(having sailed 14 times on celebrity) and a picture with the captain.

When we arrived at the martini bar to meet our host It was Nikos!! what a great surprise!

 

friday: st thomas...weather was fairly sunny so i basically became a vegetable at the pool. I have been to megans bay before...When its rainy in st thomas A LOT of sand fleas seem to come out. I didnt want to risk getting bit up again so thats why i stayed on the ship(bug free)

I won $1000 on a slot machine at the casino on the ship!

dinner is casual

 

Sat:disembarkation Stayed in oceanliners until we were able to get off...8:15am and proceeded to my hotel. BTW it rained for 2 more days and monday when going home(of course it was clear and sunny)

 

All in all i thought out of all my cruises:the staff on this particular cruise out did themselves. They were friendly/always smiling and actually seemed happy to take care of us.

The disco was closed due to renovations for cirque d soliel and it was moved to the rendezvous lounge(the acoustics are awful). We did not get to see the show It starts dec4th

martini bar fun: sudi really puts on a great show Hes fun to watch and really makes you want to drink more just to see him "work" (this could be a good thing LOL)

Aquaspa food: my favorite for lunch...the food is presented well and quite yummy Try the fruit soups(Its like drinking a smoothie...add vodka if you dare *hic*)

I had a blast and booked again for march 5th (got my $100 shipboard credit)

 

If you have any specific questions Ask away

*sweet*

PS yes this is a mini review hahaha

[sweetair]

i forgot to add...If anyone can help me out about cabin 8146...What is wrong with this cabin? is it a smaller cabin or smaller closets??? Anyone know?

[wieslaw]

Hi sweetair, thank you for sharing your cruising with the rest of us.

I am happy that the weather did not ruin your fun.

This coming Sat I/we will be boarding the Constellation, so if you forgot anything and left it there, lets us know so we can get it.

Congratulations on your winings in the casino.

Thanks again, Wes

[Lois R]

Hi Sweet:) THANK YOU for that review! Sounds like you had an awesome week!

 

You are the 2nd person who has mentioned Nickos....I am going to have to find him and say hello;) ...will let him know how much everyone likes him!

 

I am so looking forward to trying this ship.....as much as I LOVE the C-Class.....I cannot wait to head out towards San Juan:) ......2 MORE WEEKS....YIIIPPEEE~:D :D

[loriva]

Hi Sweetair,

 

Thanks much for your review. We're sailing out in two weeks (on same cruise as Lois) and really appreciate the updated info. Especially liked info on Catalina Island as we have all been curious whether this would still be included on our trip or not. Looking good!

 

On your question on cabin 8146--I'm not sure about it, but there has been great discussion of cabin 6146 posted on the main X board this (and its counterpart 8145). These are apparently very desireable cabins as they are decorated in the same style as the adjoining penthouse suites and have huge verandahs.

[sweetair]

wes,

i only left my heart aboard the ship. But thanx for the offer.

 

loriva,

i think the excursion to catalina island was $24 for 4 hours. If you are a beach person(like i said..no amenities but you can check again with excursions) then its perfect.

 

lois,

i think you will fall in love from day 1. and i want to hear all about it when you get back especially cirque d soleil!

 

Oh this is kinda funny...they have embarkation day in caso d crappo on sunday. I was passing and saw the champagne and orange juice So i picked up a couple. The guy looked at me kinda strangely. I said Hey i embarked yesterday Im still celebrating!

 

If you guys are playing in the casino: i played mostly craps Say hi to the guys at the craps table from Carole. but be careful if they think we are friends!!!! Tell them i wish they would be there in march!!!

 

*sweet*

[dabear]

thanks for the review and since I'm also a craps player, could you send back to the 1-22-05 cruise the person who held the dice until 3:40am. DO they play single or double odds?

[waylook]

Thanks for the review. As you are a veteran Connie cruiser, did you notice whether it seemed refurbished/spruced up at all from the drydock?

[sweetair]

dabear,

He hails from scotland and will be on the connie march 5th (with me) It was his first time playing and i was teaching him (beginners luck? perhaps) They only have single odds so i dont play the passline (unless shooting) or the come.

 

waylook,

They repainted the ship outside(took away the golden stripe) changed the logo. I know they invested a lot in reflections(now called bar at the edge of the sea) to accommodate the cirque d soliel show. However it was closed and i never got to see it. The ship looked basically the same to me(it has never looked worn in the past) They moved some of the statues around the ship that were in the disco prior to drydock.

 

*sweet*

[lhbsurf]

Sweet,

 

Hi, it's Laura!! Good to hear your review. Our Princess Cruise was a bit rocky for the 1st couple of days 12-18 foot seas, gale force winds - but no sea sickness for us!! After the first two days, things cleared up and we had nice weather.

 

I enjoyed the cruise immensely, of course - however, IMHO, the food in the dining rooms doesn't compare to the Connie. Even Sabatini's, while giving you way, way too much food isn't nearly the quality you find in Ocean Liners. Many of the dishes, Minestrone, Tiramisu, were exactly the same as we'd had in the regular dining room - in Ocean Liners, as I recall, everything was "special".

 

Looks like the Connie has some killer itineraries for 2005, unfortunately, we won't be able to make it this year, as we've decided to take the kids on Mariner in October as a surprise. I'm looking forward to it, but am longing to get back to the Constellation. It's now my cruising benchmark.

 

I never made it as far as Ajante, stopped in Ballerina II along the way and found exactly what I was looking for at a deal we couldn't refuse. Twice weight of diamonds at comparable color for what I could get at my local jeweler here. I'm a happy camper, but Jack's still on my list for next trip!!!

 

Laura

[bremmerh]

My husband and I are sailing on Dec 24th and can't wait to see Connie. It will be our first time on her. We were just wondering if you remember any of the movies that they showed in the Cinema? Also who is the social hostess? Thanks for your review!

[Hummer]

Thank you Sweet for the great review. We love the Connie too and will be returning in Jan. I have a couple itinerary questions...do I understand they have another embarkation day on Sunday? This is new to me.

 

And you say Catalina Island has no amenities - this seems so strange to me - especially if they are charging $24. We are planning on this excursion, but if there are no restrooms or food/drinks, hmmm, may think again.

[BoatGuy]

Hi Carole,

 

I really enjoyed reading your mini review, brings back memories of last November. Sounds like you had a great time and a great crew. Still trying to get a few more house projects done before we start cruising again. With any luck before the Constellation heads back across. You mentioned that some passengers were getting on in the DR. Seems to me that would work great for us since there are direct non stop (cheap) flights from here to the DR. Hmmm. Anyway glad to here things are as good as they ever were.

 

John

[sweetair]

laura,

i am glad your princess cruise was fun. i do compare the different cruiselines and find certain things princess does better foodwise (like souffles) and some just ordinary. I love the aquaspa buffet on celeb and the sushi bar and YES oceanliners is more than food Its an experience! But put me on the seas and i can be happy (even on carnicrap I cant believe i actually said that lol) as long as i can get sand between my toes. We will see each other again on the connie i am sure!! :)

 

bremmerh,

sorry cant remember about the movies but if i recall they were fairly up-to-date(50 first dates was 1 i remember)

If the social hostess is the same as the concierge person Her name was glenda(shes very sweet)

 

hummer,

yes they has passengers embarking in caso d crappo and they were doing that as a round trip. I asked my TA if as an american we can do that embarkation instead of in san juan. He told me NO.

As far as catalina island goes: i specifically asked the excursion desk about amenities She said nothing is there But by all means please check before you choose this tour. I believe the $24 pays for the ferry over to the island.

 

john,

always a pleasure to hear from you :) As i stated above My TA said we cannot do the caso round trip but i guess you can ask your TA about it. Maybe he can do something my TA cant Worth a try.

*sweet*

[sweetair]

ps to john...No bees Yaaaaaaaay Avoided the sand fleas on st thomas by not going to megans bay. Hope you fix your house up fast and back to the high seas again.

 

I made a mistake The disco is now called The bar at the edge of the earth! Sorry about the scrw-up :)

*sweet*