Help with booking on Celebrity Constellation cruise

[little sisu]

Hello!

This is my first time booking a cruise and I need some help! I have decided to book a cruise for next year on the Celebrity Constellation ship. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice re picking a room? We will purchase an oceanview room. I read somewhere that to avoid seasickness, a lower and more central room is suggested.

 

Celebrity is offering a pick two incentive for booking. Any expert cruisers have suggestions on which are the best deals? Choices are: unlimited internet for 2, $150 pp to spend on ship, prepaid tips for 2, or classic beverage package for 2.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

[Wine-O]

Hello!

This is my first time booking a cruise and I need some help! I have decided to book a cruise for next year on the Celebrity Constellation ship. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice re picking a room? We will purchase an oceanview room. I read somewhere that to avoid seasickness, a lower and more central room is suggested.

 

Celebrity is offering a pick two incentive for booking. Any expert cruisers have suggestions on which are the best deals? Choices are: unlimited internet for 2, $150 pp to spend on ship, prepaid tips for 2, or classic beverage package for 2.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

 

If you are looking at an Oceanview, I strongly recommend one of the new cabins they installed during refurb. They are on Deck 3, 3112-3144. They were the original conference rooms on the ship and converted to cabins. They have a huge picture window -- larger than any other Oceanviews. If you can snag 3112, go for it. It's just a tad bit larger than the others.

 

P.S. Go for the beverage package and the $150.00 per person. That will pay for your tips, plus you can upgrade to the premium package for around $82.00.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Wine-O

[jelayne]

Congratulations on your first cruise-they are wonderful. We were on the Constellation in May -a beautiful ship.

 

As far as OV cabins you might want to look on the 2nd page of this forum as there is a thread "New OV Cabins" that has info that might be useful.

 

As to which perks to pick- if you like bottled water, latte's, fresh squeezed juice, soda, wine, beer or alcohol ( within price limits) then take the beverage package.

 

As to the 2nd choice you should do the math. Gratuities on a OV for a 7 night cruise are less than $150pp so the $150 would be better on a 7 night cruise.

Off the top of my head I don't know the cost of unlimited internet but that info is on Celebrity's web site. So based on the length of the cruise and how much you want to be on line-with a slow connection pick what gives you the most benefit.

 

Have a great time.

[Iamthesea]

Go for Gratuity if a long cruise. And Beverage w/ Tips if you drink alcohol. Is this a European cruise?

 

Of, and don't worry about the movement. We were up on Deck 11 with a balcony on a Baltics cruise and never felt a thing. The secret to not getting sea sickness is to take something for it BEFORE you start feeling bad. There are lots of products out there, but we prefer Meclizine chewable tables that we take the morning of boarding and then everyday after if we think the seas may be rough.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Iamthesea

[little sisu]

Thank you all for your suggestions! The cruise is 11 nights. Right now I'm leaning towards the drink package and gratuities.

 

I looked at the location of room 3112 and noticed it is near a conference room and some other offices (I think) and right next to a bathroom. It's also on the same floor as the theater. Because the room is not on a floor with only rooms, would this make it a noisier room? The bigger window sounds appealing but not if there's a lot of commotion on the floor.

 

I looked for the thread "New OV cabins" and couldn't find it. Is there another way to find out about the newer cabins?

[bEwAbG]

3112 is in a hallway that gets traffic from those elevators by the Aft stairway because that's the only way to exit from that end of the ship. I don't know if there are noise issues related to that but I remember thinking that I wouldn't want to stay in that particular hallway every time I walked through there.

 

That said, there really shouldn't be much traffic on Deck 3 on days that the ship is at sea unless there is a conference also booked to use that space. I'm not even sure you can enter the theater from Deck 3 (the majority of people enter on Decks 4 and 5), so that shouldn't concern you.

 

On port days, Deck 3 can get a lot of traffic as people seek out info from Guest Relations/Concierge/Shore Excursions, and the exit from the ship is often from that level as well. That Grand Foyer area is basically the main lobby of a hotel so most everyone is heading there at some point. The flip side to that is that at night, most of the ship activity is happening on other decks.

[jelayne]

Little susi, if you look on the questions on this page of the Celebrity forum you should find the New OV Cabin question & responses.

 

OV cabins are on decks 2 ( below dining area so could be noisy) deck 3 or deck 5 forward. Deck 5 forward would have cabins above but from what I have read deck 3 has some if the newer/larger window cabins. We have been on Celebrity many times and I think we have walked down the hall on Deck 3 by the cabins 2 or 3 times.

[Wine-O]

Thank you all for your suggestions! The cruise is 11 nights. Right now I'm leaning towards the drink package and gratuities.

 

I looked at the location of room 3112 and noticed it is near a conference room and some other offices (I think) and right next to a bathroom. It's also on the same floor as the theater. Because the room is not on a floor with only rooms, would this make it a noisier room? The bigger window sounds appealing but not if there's a lot of commotion on the floor.

 

I looked for the thread "New OV cabins" and couldn't find it. Is there another way to find out about the newer cabins?

 

We stayed in 3112 three times. I was originally concerned about being right next door to the bathroom, hearing flushes all times of the day, but didn't hear a peep. It's well insulated. Those staterooms are cordoned off from everything. For an OV Cat 6, they're the best.

[tartana]

1st pick would be Classic Beverage Package hands down - there are a lot of choices not included even besides alcohol that you would have to constantly be paying for or not getting without the package. Is it $150 pp or $150 per cabin on board credit? If it's per person, that's a pretty good choice. The internet is very expensive too though if you were going to buy it. It's something like $350 for a 10 day cruise.

[little sisu]

Thanks again for all of your help! I have another question- what do the different categories for the cabins mean? I noticed that for the oceanview staterooms, they have different category numbers when the rooms are all on the same deck. For example, the continental deck has categories 7 and 8.

[Lois R]

Thanks again for all of your help! I have another question- what do the different categories for the cabins mean? I noticed that for the oceanview staterooms, they have different category numbers when the rooms are all on the same deck. For example, the continental deck has categories 7 and 8.

 

Different categories are different locations on the ship...the Oceanview

cabins on deck 3 are cagetory 6.

The oceanview cabins on deck 2 are category 7 and 8 and are probably

less $$ too. Deck 2 is the Continental Deck and Deck 3 is the Plaza Deck.

 

I should have explained....categories 7 and 8 are less money than category

6 (usually). Categories 4 and 5 are also oceanview cabins but they are more

money than category 6 (usually).

Edited August 30, 2015 by Lois R

[little sisu]

What is the difference between category 7 and category 8?

[TN Vol Fan]

Thanks again for all of your help! I have another question- what do the different categories for the cabins mean? I noticed that for the oceanview staterooms, they have different category numbers when the rooms are all on the same deck. For example, the continental deck has categories 7 and 8.

Location, location, location! That makes all the difference.

Our favorite OV is as far forward as you can get, cabin 7000- cat.4. We're in it on the Infinity in 2 weeks for 17 days! We've been in it several times before, extra large room with very large circular window. Never had a problem with motion there and no noise problems either. But you do pay more for this cat. Of OV.

Enjoy the Connie, our favorite X ship.

Edited August 30, 2015 by TN Vol Fan

[Lois R]

What is the difference between category 7 and category 8?

 

Location.......I should have explained it...I edited my previous post

for you:)....7 and 8 are at the bottom of the oceanview categories.

Then 6...then 5...then 4..........usually 7 and 8 would be the lowest

priced of the oceanview cabins.

[offnoncruiser]

Thanks again for all of your help! I have another question- what do the different categories for the cabins mean? I noticed that for the oceanview staterooms, they have different category numbers when the rooms are all on the same deck. For example, the continental deck has categories 7 and 8.

 

The Cat 7 cabins are midship vs the Cat 8 cabins that are forward or aft. Most cruise lines assign different categories that are of the same type and on the same deck based solely on whether they are located midship or forward or aft (midship is better).

 

The Cat 6 OV cabins, rooms 3112-3144 are great cabins! They were added during a dry dock refurb, so newer furnishings, huge window, great location, and quiet. So if you're set on an OV, definitely consider them.

 

The only ones that really use this particular corridor are the ones with cabins there. No real reason to use this corridor otherwise. The conference room didn't have any effect either (and it was used). No noise from above or below (even though the end of the outside promenade deck is above these cabins). Plus the stairs/elevators are close for access to most of the bars, restaurants, casino, services, and the top deck oceanview cafe and pool areas.

 

Having said that, I've been looking at some Southern Caribbean cruises on the Summit, and the Cat 6 cabins are quite a bit more expensive than the Cat 7/8 cabins for some of the cruises, so you just need to decide if it's worth the extra money for your 11 day cruise (which I'm assuming is in Europe?).

 

I'd also vote for the Beverage Package and the free gratuities. The Bev Pkg is great even if you don't drink much (or at all), with all of the free coffees, sodas, bottled water, etc. For an 11 day cruise it's pretty much a wash for taking the free grats or the $300 OBC. That gets the grats out of the way and then you don't have to worry about spending the $300 OBC (which is usually easy to do anyway).

 

Enjoy your first cruise. I'm sure you'll love it!