Constellation

[Betho]

About a year ago my DH and I cruised on The Constellation. It was an anniversary splurge...We were in a concierge cabin. We are Diamond with RCI..and have loved every cruise.We loved the physical ship and the cabin. We love the older, smaller ships. The service on the Constellation was not so wonderful. We were under the impression the service and the ambience would be even better than RCI. The crew and the service was not even close to the wonderful service and attention we had always experienced on RCI. We had heard that the ship had recently been repositioned to the US with shorter cruises vs the European longer cruises and the crew was not happy with the change. So we have an opportunity to cruise on the Constellation again. The threads have had mixed reviews.We are hoping that the Celebrity ambience is back....please advise.

[May B]

About a year ago my DH and I cruised on The Constellation. It was an anniversary splurge...We were in a concierge cabin. We are Diamond with RCI..and have loved every cruise.We loved the physical ship and the cabin. We love the older, smaller ships. The service on the Constellation was not so wonderful. We were under the impression the service and the ambience would be even better than RCI. The crew and the service was not even close to the wonderful service and attention we had always experienced on RCI. We had heard that the ship had recently been repositioned to the US with shorter cruises vs the European longer cruises and the crew was not happy with the change. So we have an opportunity to cruise on the Constellation again. The threads have had mixed reviews.We are hoping that the Celebrity ambience is back....please advise.

 

Since you loved Royal and were disappointed in the Connie, why would you consider her again? Seems like it would be challenging to improve on something you already love.

 

I'm sure plenty of posters will chime in soon to answer you.

 

After October, I can even comment on the short vs. the long, b/c we expect to have 11 days on the Black Sea on the Connie as well.

[Miaminice]

We had a different experience in December on Connie...

 

After many cruises on various RC-ships, which we absolutely loved, we tried Connie and Celebrity on a short Xmas-cruise in December.

 

What should I say... The only reason why we don´t say that we liked Celebrity better is because we have the feeling we would betray our beloved RC ;)

 

"Solsticized" Connie is absolutely beautiful. Food was good and service great - just as good, maybe even better than Royal.

 

After a price-drop we made the mistake to upgrade to Aqua-Class for not even 10$ more than originally booked. I call it a mistake because we are hooked now.

Especially because of the (Aqua-Class) BLU-restaurant. Beautiful setting, great quiet service, no rush and close to gourmet food.

 

We booked TWO more Celebrity cruises while on board - Holy Land/Silhouette and South America/Infinity. And of course it unfortunately had to be Aqua-class again :rolleyes:

 

So my advise - don´t book Aqua :)

 

For many many pics of solticized Connie check our review below. Don´t mind the German text (I posted it in a German forum) - the pics will tell the story.

 

http://www.kreuzfahrtinfos.at/kfi-forum/board3-kreuzfahrt-reedereien/board55-celebrity-cruises/board88-reisebericht-celebrity-cruises/4656-reisebericht-weihnachten-2013-an-bord-der-celebrity-constellation/

Edited January 25, 2014 by Miaminice

[Gracie115]

We cruised Connie last April before her dry dock and again this past December. We LOVED both cruises BUT the service in "Select Dining" in April was not good and we felt pretty much like cattle...OTHER THAN THAT we had a wonderful cruise and found all other service on the ship great which is why we booked again for December...only this time we booked AQ and dined in Blu....what a wonderful experience. We found the difference in the two dining venues like night and day. The rest of the ship was just as good as our first trip and we'd book her again if X would mix the itinerary up a bit.....visiting Key West and Cozumel is fine the first few times but we won't sail her again until there are new stops...at least last April Roaton was a stop and a GREAT one at that but it has been eliminated from the 5 night itinerary.:(

 

But if you don't care about the stops I'd book her again in a second...we've also sailed Royal many times and while we've enjoyed those cruises we don't think the service is even close to the quality you get on X...just our opinion of course!!:)

[4774Papa]

We have been on Connie twice, 14 day Caribbean in 2012 and Black Sea in Sept 2013. Service was excellent.

[2552phxcrzr]

We were on the Constellation for nearly a month in November, returning from Turkey to the US. Have nothing but great things to say about our time on the ship. That said, the ambiance, passenger mix, etc. will be quite different on a short cruise, if that is what you're looking at. Keep that in mind when making your decision.

[Betho]

]

Thank you for all the great information. I am feeling better about our decision.:)

[miched]

We saled on the Constellation in Mar 2013. It had the freindliest staff and officers of any ship. We were at Cafe Al Baco oddering a coffee. The captain was there also getting one and offered to pay for our drinks.

 

One thing to be aware of is that staff and officers change.

 

Also around Easter time they cater to the younger crowd that is on spring break. The entertainment will be more geared to them and there may be a lot of areas where the DJ's banging on their electronic drums is very loud.

 

 

🌴🍸🍻🍺

[hoadred]

I did a 4-night Bahamas cruise on Connie earlier this month and was very disappointed. Staff generally looked miserable and treated people indifferently - especially in outdoor areas. I had to wait five to ten minutes most times before I was even acknowledged by a bartender...and it wasn't because they were understaffed, the bartenders were just disorganized and often moving at a slow pace...or disappearing for minutes at a time to get something.

 

The Main Dining Room wasn't a treat either. I travelled with a friend in separate staterooms, and it was a whole production to be able to sit together in the second seating. Once we did get a table, the Head Waiter was also miserable and treated us very poorly.

 

The ship iteself (other than the rusty balcony and mildew-filled bathroom, which seem to be M-class staples these days) was in good shape...and premium areas like the Martini Bar and specialty restaurants offered a great experience.

 

I haven't lost faith in Celebrity but it definitely seems that service levels vary wildly depending on the ship and crew rotation, which is unfortunate since Celebrity set the bar very high on my first-ever cruise on the Solstice a few years ago.

[The_Big_M]

I sailed on her in May on a longer cruise in the Baltic, and was a bit disappointed. The service was variable, but not as good as we've had in the past on Celebrity.

 

Our disappointment was probably due more to cut backs and the 'solsticisation' of the ship, which caused features to be lost e.g. the cinema, and was more crowded. Food was also quite disappointing, but dining services staff did try hard. The captain and CD were enthusiastic which helped. But the number of cutbacks compared to before, plus the degrading of the onboard facilities impacted the experience.

 

I could understand your comments in respect of comparing to RCL too. Some things are better on Celebrity, but I've had better service experiences on RCL lately.