A Short List of Comments on the Connie TA

[BosoxI]

I've already forgotten some items I wanted to address, so I'll briefly comment on the ones I can remember.

 

The service and the smaller venue in Blu make it worthwhile. The food is average at best. People in the A2 cabins frequently complained of noise from the pool deck. Really? ;)

 

DW and I ordered martinis in Cellar Masters one night, using our Elite+ coupons. One sip and we knew we weren't drinking Beefeaters, as was advertised. When we questioned the bartender, he laughed. looked at the ceiling while rolling his eyes and said "It's our best gin." But he didn't name it and he was clearly a bit embarrassed. Beefeaters was being served in the other venues.

 

I always look forward to the Indian food in the Oceanview, so to find it bland was a big disappointment. Once was enough.

 

The pizza, however, was the best I ever had on a Celebrity ship. Win some, lose some.

 

Oceanliners is simply the best specialty restaurant I've ever eaten in on any cruise line. The food is excellent, the restaurant is beautiful, and the service outstanding. At lunch or at dinner, it shouldn't be missed.

 

I don't attend production shows, but I did see the other entertainers. Everyone of them was excellent, well, maybe the comedian from Brooklyn wasn't so hot, but the others were really good. For once my poor wife didn't have to listen to me complain about third rate hoofers.

 

One of the agents in Future Cruise Sales should learn how to smile before her face freezes. Dealing with her was painful. Incidentally, X's pricing is really going out of sight on many cruises. No way am I paying those prices for Celebrity's product, especially when Princess is much more reasonable for the same basic itineraries. Obviously, others don't agree, as the ships seem to be filling up. My wife says it's time to move up in class and try one of the elite lines. Maybe she's right, she usually is.

 

It's not Celebrity's doing, but there seemed to be an inordinate number of ill mannered people on board. Fortunately, they were outnumbered by nice passengers. Why, twice I saw men take their caps off in the restaurant. How often does that happen? And I even saw one gentleman stand when his wife rose from and returned to the dining table. What is this world coming to?:p

 

We did not receive the email containing the cruise review questionaire. I would have like to have complimanted several of the crew. I still like the paper form onboard.

 

All in all, a very enjoyable cruise.

Edited November 24, 2014 by BosoxI

[ptrpanpens]

I was on the Holy Land cruise before yours. While I liked the ship overall, especially the crew, I also found the food to be lower quality than the S class ships or the Century. I don't know if this was because of the itinerary or other reasons, but it was hard to find anything I could even classify as memorable. There were several of us who took advantage of the price drops to book Aqua so we could eat in Blu. I found the food there disappointing and so did several others I spoke to, so ate many more meals in the MDR, which had better selection at least.

 

Based on my experience I would not book Aqua again unless the difference in price was minimal. Probably the food is better on the S class because most people seem to love Blu.

 

In any case, I had a wonderful cruise and enjoyed the Constellation in spite of the food, and didnt go away hungry in any case.;)

[ghstudio]

 

Based on my experience I would not book Aqua again unless the difference in price was minimal. Probably the food is better on the S class because most people seem to love Blu.

 

 

 

The menus are identical on all celebrity ships. There is some variation in seasoning...apparently their kitchen recipes must say "season to taste". All food, other than fresh vegetables/fruit is sourced from the same place and shipped to the ships....so little variation there.

 

I think most (including us) like blu for the atmosphere and breakfasts. It's a much nicer room to dine in with better service than the MDR. That spans all the ship classes. Most posts here value blu at about $100-200 over the MDR for a cruise.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Hi BOSOXI,

 

Thanks for your Cruise Review of The Constellation... Very interesting, as we have her booked for our next cruise, and am looking forward to Aqua & Blu for the first time.

 

Hopefully the Indian Food in the Buffet won't be disappointing... We quite like all the ethnic fare we have found there in the past (makes Lunch something out of the ordinary vs home).

 

As for Celebrity Price Increases... We certainly are seeing the same since we began sailing in 2012 (booked Summer 2011). In the Caribbean there has been a HUGE jump starting this Winter... With prices going up in some cases 50% or more since our first Celebrity Cruise ($ 1050 for a C2 in Jan 2012, anywhere in a range of $ 1500 to $ 1700+ for the same this winter & next). Add in the increases in airfare, and a Caribbean Getaway is taking a lot more money to wangle

 

Cheers!

[Wj420]

"I always look forward to the Indian food in the Oceanview, so to find it bland was a big disappointment. Once was enough."

 

We sailed on the silouhette trans that just returned. We found the Indian at the oceanview buffet to be surprisingly aggressively seasoned. We loved it and commented that the average person might find it too spicy.

 

We were thrilled at the level of seasoning on this ship. Kudos to the chefs!

 

P.s. We loved the top chef menu night!!

[Orator]

Also on this TA and found it to be one of the best. Kudos go to the staff for the way they handled the shift in embarkation port. The transportation was handled well. I paid for Celebrity transportation to the post. I was transported to a port and my transportation cost was refunded. Certainly not expected, but most appreciated. Michael's Club was very active. Met a great group of fellow cruises and looking forward to seeing some of them on Silhouette in January. Lisa,the MC Host planned several special activities. Found the food in the MDR to be of the usual quality. Service was excellent! While Captain Nicholas and Capt. Tasos are different in some ways, they share a commitment to the passengers and are among the finest. Capt.Tasos was aboard for seadays and he was everywhere. At times thesound level was quite loud i the Theater, but the entertainment was varied and quite good. I didn't try the pizza. I didn't experience rudeness or impoliteness, but we all are at different palces at different times and experience different things.The only real negative for me was the cigarette smoke coming from a door on Deck 4 near the Theater. This door was several decks above to Crew Bar. I reported this to Capt. Tasos and he took immediate action. The Connie is one of my favorite ships and certainly didn't disappoint this time.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Orator

[BosoxI]

[quote=Wj420;44821086

We sailed on the silouhette trans that just returned. We found the Indian at the oceanview buffet to be surprisingly aggressively seasoned. We loved it and commented that the average person might find it too spicy.

 

We were thrilled at the level of seasoning on this ship. Kudos to the chefs!

quote]

 

Now that's good news, as we'll be on her in March, possibly for a back to back. When I commented on the lack of proper seasoning, I got the standard reply: "Not everyone likes well seasoned food." To which I gave my standard response "Then they should avoid such food and stick to milktoast or whatever bland food pleases them." With so many varied choices on the menu, everyone should be able to find food he likes and avoid those he doesn't. Sure hope the cooks on Silhouette don't leave in the next four months.

[WEGL81]

Was also on this TA in Aqua A2 under the pool deck. I knew going in about the pool deck noise so the only time it really bothered us was on the two nights they decided to have an event on the deck with loud music until midnight. It didn't really impact us, though, as we just slept in the next morrning :)

 

Eating in Blu has been a highlight for us. I will say the food did not seem to be quite up to the same standards as when we were on Connie last April. We actually ate in the Oceanview two nights and really enjoyed the cooked to order steaks. There was a lot of variety in the buffet for us, so we ate lunch there most days. We were very disappointed on the 2 days we ate lunch in the MDR.

 

Both Captain Tasos and cruise director Rich were everywhere on the sea days. I've never seen a captain participate in a game show (Liar's Club). If this ship captain thing doesn't work out he should try his hand at standup. Rich was way more visible than most cruise directors I've encountered on other ships.

 

I think the only rudeness I encountered was from passengers towards crew. I guess some people feel entitled. By the way, I was one of those folks who removed their caps when entering the dining room at lunch.