Constellation - Abu Dhabi to Civitavecchia LIVE(ish)

Thank you so much for the Pictures & info! Could you also post a picture of a wine list and the menue of the "Luminae" restaurant? Thanks!

Have a great trip!

 

Goetz

Here is the wine list from the Rendezvous Lounge.

And from Reflections

Here is the menu that was outside Luminae tonight.

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Today was the first of many sea days that we will be having. The Captain did an announcement at 10am. I missed the beginning as even though I was on the correct channel on the tv the volume was a bit low.

This was the ship’s position at 10am as displayed on the navigation channel.

Shortly after his announcement the Cruise Critic Connections Party took place in the Rendezvous Lounge. Cruise Director Rich Clesen took to the mic and introduced a number of officers.

The Captain wasn’t there, nor were the Chief Engineer or Staff Captain. CD Rich said the Captain was needed on the bridge as we were travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

As the staff dispersed I had an opportunity to speak to the F&B Director over an issue I had yesterday regarding my non-alcoholic beverage package. He called his Beverage Ops Manager who appeared a few minutes later. He made a note of my issue and said to give him a bit of time to resolve. I’ll report back tomorrow to see how it’s gone.

After the Connections Party I headed Cafe Al Bacio. On my way I noticed a big rock to our starboard side. We were close to land!

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This afternoon we went to a Beyond The Podium speaker in the theatre. We don’t usually go to them but this was about the construction of the Suez Canal and it was interesting to listen to. The theatre was packed, on both levels.

It was time for another stop at Cafe Al Bacio after the presentation had finished. We also got out the dominos we took with us.

We spent a bit of time by the pool late afternoon. The heat wasn’t that overwhelming and there were plenty of loungers available. What was impressive was the barman at the Pool Bar remembered our drinks after only getting one from him yesterday. [emoji54]

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The MDR menu for tonight.

There was an Officers Soirée in the Grand Foyer this evening. Unfortunately we missed it, and it’s confession time as to why. [emoji5]

At some point this afternoon my phone updated its time zone to Iran, which is 30 minutes ahead of ship time. When we got to the Grand Foyer and didn’t see any officers we thought we were late so heading to dinner, when in fact we were early! The joys of not wearing a watch and relying on my phone for the time. [emoji28]

We only found out whilst waiting to watch Masque in Reflections. It was due to start at 10.30pm and at 10.55pm (according to my phone) I asked one of the Activity team if it’d be starting shortly? They said yes, 5 minutes. I then asked them the time, only to find out it was 10.25pm. [emoji5]

Suffice to say I’ve switched off the automatic time setting on my phone now.

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What!!!...no trivia??!! How am I going to survive on my Connie cruise in 9 months?

 

Simon

Don't you worry! We just got off the ship at Abu Dhabi and there is plenty of trivia.... as the daily sheet shows... every morning at 10.15 and every evening at 4.30 then music trivia at 5pm. ALSO there are a couple of trivias in the evening at around 8 or 10 which are a bit different - with teams of half (the room) against (the other) half....

Before our cruise set off I was bit perturbed that a previous poster said that 'this was not a ship for serious quizzers' - but it really is! I have never seen so many teams regularly turn up for quizzes every day....

Hope you're having fun... You'll love Jeanna and the answer for any question from Willem is 'belgium!' ;);)

Thank you so much for this review.

I love Celebrity, but have only sailed on S-Class ships. I am considering a cruise on the Constellation later this year, so I'd be very interested to hear how you "feel" being on an M-class compared to your usual S class ships.....

I've been reading up on the 'physical' differences of the two classes, but I'd be really interested to hear more about the "experiential" difference (if any) ....

Appreciate any photos of the ship that you feel like sharing.

Also, hotel director Andrea was incredible on the Eclipse when I was there. Would be interested to know how long she's onboard constellation if you ever have an opportunity to ask :)

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to spend on cruise Critic here with a review. Enjoy!

Don't you worry! We just got off the ship at Abu Dhabi and there is plenty of trivia.... as the daily sheet shows... every morning at 10.15 and every evening at 4.30 then music trivia at 5pm. ALSO there are a couple of trivias in the evening at around 8 or 10 which are a bit different - with teams of half (the room) against (the other) half....

 

Before our cruise set off I was bit perturbed that a previous poster said that 'this was not a ship for serious quizzers' - but it really is! I have never seen so many teams regularly turn up for quizzes every day....

 

Hope you're having fun... You'll love Jeanna and the answer for any question from Willem is 'belgium!' ;);)

Good to know...thanks. We did a transatlantic on the Independance once and there were over 140 teams for the progressive trivia and I think about 110 turned up for every (8?) session. If you didn't get there an hour before, you didn't get a seat!!

Simon

Thank you very much....now I am very hungry and need a drink ;)!

And from Reflections

Here is the menu that was outside Luminae tonight.

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Good to know...thanks. We did a transatlantic on the Independance once and there were over 140 teams for the progressive trivia and I think about 110 turned up for every (8?) session. If you didn't get there an hour before, you didn't get a seat!!

 

 

 

Simon

They’ve said progressive trivia will begin tomorrow. Starting tomorrow we have 8 sea days out of the next 9.

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Last night there was a performance from the theatre cast in the Reflections Lounge at 10.30pm, Masque.

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We woke up this morning to a letter that had been put under our stateroom door. It was to let us know there would be a ‘Pirate Drill’ tomorrow morning ahead of us sailing through the Gulf of Aden.

Here is the Celebrity Today for Tuesday 24 April.

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It is a pity that pirates still exist. A Bon Voyage through the Gulf of Aden.

Did you meet Ed and Nancy yet? Go to the casino....she likes that place.

She.....tall, red hair. He grey hair...goatee... Miller light in hand. Can’t miss them.

We’re had no plans for Muscat yesterday so didn’t rush to get off of the ship. We eventually walked off at around 11.30am. As we left the ship we were handed a Tourist Entry Permit. Entry through the security check at the terminal just consisted of a bag check and walking through a scanner.

Outside the port gate we were approached by a few guys asking if we wanted a taxi tour of Muscat. We knocked down the price a bit and agreed a two hour tour taking in a few sights. The taxi driver was happy to take Euros or USD, and would have taken us to an ATM if we needed to.

We first heads out to the Grand Mosque. It is only open to visitors between 8am and 11am so we were only able to walk around the outside to take photos.

We then stopped at the Royal Opera House before stopping at Al Alam Palace on the way to Muttrah Souk.

In the souk less than half of the shops were open as it was getting on for 2pm by the time we arrived. We didn’t mind. It was less busy than the souks we visited in Dubai pre-cruise and the traders we less forceful in their approach too. We bought a couple of fridge magnets. The chap we bought off was happy to take Euros, USD or AED. Based on the price he gave in each we paid in AED as 2 magnets worked out about at around 4 USD. He had wanted 5 USD had we paid with dollars.

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I’m not sure why some photos load direct to the forum, whilst other load as attachments. Any advice would be gratefully received. [emoji846]

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Thank you so much for this review.

 

I love Celebrity, but have only sailed on S-Class ships. I am considering a cruise on the Constellation later this year, so I'd be very interested to hear how you "feel" being on an M-class compared to your usual S class ships.....

 

I've been reading up on the 'physical' differences of the two classes, but I'd be really interested to hear more about the "experiential" difference (if any) ....

 

Appreciate any photos of the ship that you feel like sharing.

 

Also, hotel director Andrea was incredible on the Eclipse when I was there. Would be interested to know how long she's onboard constellation if you ever have an opportunity to ask :)

 

Thank you for taking time out of your vacation to spend on cruise Critic here with a review. Enjoy!

I spoke with Andrea last night in Michael’s. I didn’t get a chance to ask how much longer she is on, but she did say she only boarded on 4/2 in Sri Lanka, so she will likely remain on board for some time.

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As we sailed away from Muscat we could see a couple of places the taxi had taken us earlier in the afternoon. One being the Al Alam Palace.

The evening show in the theatre was Matthew McGurk. He did some close up card tricks, with it projected on to a big screen on the stage so everyone could see what he was doing.

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I’m not sure why some photos load direct to the forum, whilst other load as attachments. Any advice would be gratefully received. [emoji846]

 

 

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If it helps you check, I've got 6 photos in the Muscat post and no attachments.

Simon

Enjoying your review and photos!

I spoke with Andrea last night in Michael’s. I didn’t get a chance to ask how much longer she is on, but she did say she only boarded on 4/2 in Sri Lanka, so she will likely remain on board for some time.

 

 

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The MDR menus for Tuesday evening.

At the end of our meal the area we were sat in was thinning out and a waiter at a nearby table started amusing his diners with some napkin folding. When they left he came over to us.

The late evening entertainment moved outside with a 60s & 70s Deck Party. It’ll be the last pool side party for a few days whilst we travel through the Gulf of Aden, an area know for pirate activity.

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If it helps you check, I've got 6 photos in the Muscat post and no attachments.

 

 

 

Simon

Thanks. The way they are uploading for me sometimes is different. It may be they don’t look different if you are logged in to CC. I’ve sent some people a link to the thread who aren’t members and they can only see the photos loaded directly on to the forum. They can’t see the Muscat photos or the ones in my subsequent post.

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I don’t see any as attachments. They’re all showing with the post on my end

Thanks for letting me know. [emoji41]

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I've just found and caught up with your excellent post. Thank you for the wonderful photos and fascinating and interesting 'blog'. We are on the Constellation in August and having only been on 'S' class ships before; I'm wondering what the main differences are apart from size, age and décor? We'll be in Aqua on deck 11 and I'm a bit worried about the noise from the roof top terrace! Are movies and/or music played all day? Any information you can give would be really appreciated. Thank you UKPete and enjoy the rest of your fantastic cruise.

I’m not sure why some photos load direct to the forum, whilst other load as attachments. Any advice would be gratefully received. [emoji846]

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Don't see attachments, all pictures displayed correctly