Pictorial Review: Celebrity Constellation, 3/19/16

[DarthGrady]

Celebrity Constellation: Key West and Cozumel, 3/19/16

 

Intro:

 

My first and only cruise with Celebrity was a few years ago on the Century. Although it was only two nights long, we had a great time. We decided that a longer trip would be nice, so we booked a five night sailing on the newer and larger Constellation. Another factor that pushed us toward Celebrity was that they offer past guest benefits in their program to members of Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society.

 

Embarkation:

 

My wife and I drove down to Fort Lauderdale on the morning of the cruise, about four hours south on the Turnpike. We used Park-N-Go, as we always do at Port Everglades. Off-site parking can be hit or miss, but we’ve had good service from them over the years.

 

The Constellation was pulled up to Terminal 4. I’ve cruised from there a few times, it seems to generally be used for small to medium sized ships. The crowds were not very heavy and check-in only took a few minutes.

 

The ship:

 

“Connie” is about 14 years old now, but looks very good for her age. Even at 90,000 gross tons she is a medium sized ship by today’s bizarre mega-ship standards. Being a fan of Royal Caribbean’s Radiance Class ships, I liked that the Constellation is of similar size and layout. It is easy to see that Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are sister brands as the ships share many design features.

 

The pool deck has a good setup with two pools and four hot tubs. The Solarium is also a great area, I liked the sections on the sides of pool that are shaped like wide loungers for relaxing in the water. I enjoyed having drinks at the aft facing Sunset Bar and also the Reflections Lounge which overlooks the bow.

 

Our Cabin:

 

We stayed in #7040, an interior room on deck 7. It was in a forward side corridor, which was nice as there was very little noise in that area. The only guests walking through were staying in that hallway. The room itself had lots of storage and drawers. They provided bathrobes and a hairdryer in the room. Our steward did an excellent job with a morning cleaning and an evening turndown service.

 

Day 1, Fort Lauderdale:

 

After embarkation we had lunch in the buffet since the rooms were not yet open. I was impressed with the quality of the food, especially the pizza. Out of nearly sixty cruises, the Connie had the best pizzeria. I wish they would share the technique/recipe with their contemporaries at R.C.I.

 

Later in the afternoon we went up to the gym. It is well equipped with modern machines with TV screens and multimedia inputs. I liked that they have free saunas in the locker rooms, but I wish they would have also included free steam rooms as well. The only steam rooms onboard are in the Turkish Garden which has a fee to use.

 

For dinner we went to San Marcos which is the main dining room onboard. We chose anytime dining which always comes with pros and cons. You can show up whenever, but will likely have a short wait (they provide pagers to waiting guests). Reservations are available, but the popular times (between 6 and 8) book up very fast. We ended up going after 8 each night. The food and service were both very good.

 

 

Day 2, Key West:

 

One of the highlights of this cruise was the extended time allotted for the Key West stop. Most of my cruises that have stopped there left around 2 pm or earlier. We had until 5 pm which gave us more time to spend in town.

 

We rented bicycles and rode to Fort Taylor. It is an interesting piece of history that can get overlooked with all of the other attractions on the island. The park also has bicycling trails and a beach which can all be used for the small entry fee. After the fort we continued riding around town, stopping at a few other locations before heading back to the ship.

 

In the evening we attended the Captain’s Club reception in the Reflections Lounge. We met Graeme the Captain’s Club Host. Graeme is a really nice guy and great in his role. He was always walking the room chatting with guests and making everyone feel welcome.

 

In the evening we went up to the Reflections Lounge where they have the nightly dance club. It is a good venue for it with a large dance floor and lots of seating. The bartenders took great care of us and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

 

Day 3, At Sea:

 

We hit rough seas during the night and it continued into the day. Crowds on the pool deck were noticeably less than is typical due to the motion and the dreary weather. But it was still a relaxing day, and I enjoyed spending some time at the pool bar after visiting the gym.

 

I also visited the martini bar which sits off the atrium on deck 4. It has modern look, and a cool (literally) bar top that frosts over. The bartenders that work there are well trained “flair tenders” and their skills are impressive to say the least.

 

We had a nice conversation with Graeme in the Captain’ Club. He has been working in the cruise industry for a long time, so we shared lots of stories about past cruises.

 

When we returned to the cabin later that evening we were excited to find an invitation to dine with one of the ship’s officers on the following evening. We definitely looked forward to a new experience.

 

Day 4, Cozumel:

 

We slept in after another late night in the dance club, so we did not venture into Cozumel on this voyage. Instead we got our daily gym visit out of the way and relaxed on the ship. I spent some time at the Sunset Bar and also up on the pool deck.

 

We had dinner in Blu with Julio Pena, the ship’s financial controller and Gabriela Stephens the International Hostess. They were both very friendly and outgoing. My wife is an accountant, so she enjoyed comparing notes with Mr. Pena. Gabriela was a very interesting person to meet. She fluently speaks four (FOUR!) languages, she assists the international guests with their needs and creates the ship’s publications in various languages. As an unfortunately monolingual American, this was very impressive. The dinner itself was delicious as were the wine pairings.

 

Day 5, At Sea:

 

The last day onboard was a fairly lazy one. After lunch in the buffet, I spent most of my time at the pool deck. We stopped by the Reflections Lounge for drinks and to thank Graeme for a job well done throughout the cruise. We had dinner in San Marcos one last time and spent our last late-night in Reflections.

 

Entertainment:

 

The onboard shows were decent for a shorter cruise. Rich was a good comedian, and the hypnotist act on the last night was funny. We also enjoyed the nightly Port vs. Starboard games in the Reflections Lounge. The live music was excellent throughout the ship. I liked that they had a rock band on the pool deck instead of the typical Caribbean island fare.

 

Debarkation:

 

Debarking the ship was very easy. There was a debarkation lounge in the Ocean Liners restaurant for Captain’s Club members, but we did not use it. The line wasn’t long for the gangway, so we just walked right off. We carried everything with us, so we were out of the terminal building in just a few minutes. A Park-N-Go shuttle was waiting, so we were quickly on the road and heading north. We had to make a stop at the Moonlight Diner for breakfast, as we always do in Fort Lauderdale.

 

This was a great cruise. We really enjoyed the Constellation. The size of the ship was just right, and the crew was incredibly friendly and hard working. While the majority of our cruises will likely still be on Royal Caribbean, we will definitely be returning to Celebrity again. Hopefully next time we can try one of the Solstice Class ships, most of the Celebrity fans we spoke to said that they are very impressive.

[DarthGrady]

Our cabin

 

 

 

 

 

Oddly, the adjoining door in our cabin looked to have been taped closed at some point. A quarantine maybe?

 

[DarthGrady]

The grand staircase in the atrium

 

Crush Martini Bar

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The main dining room

 

 

 

 

The Cellar Masters wine bar. They also had a decent selection of international and craft beers

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Bistro on Five serves an interesting menu of various crepes.

 

 

 

The Rendezvous Lounge had live music in the evenings, but I rarely went in there

 

 

 

The shopping area

 

 

Future Cruise Sales

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by DarthGrady

[jules815]

Thanks for your review and pictures. We were on Connie the week before you and really enjoyed it, too. I agree that it's similar to RC Radiance Class, but I think I liked Connie a little better. It felt "cleaner" to us, and I think that's probably due to the no smoking anywhere inside thing.

 

Also, anyone looking at the pictures, that ice at the "Crush" bar is real. After looking at so many pictures online before our cruise, I was convinced it had to be fake because it always looked so perfect. It is indeed real!

[DarthGrady]

The main theater

 

 

 

The casino

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Thanks for your review and pictures. We were on Connie the week before you and really enjoyed it, too. I agree that it's similar to RC Radiance Class, but I think I liked Connie a little better. It felt "cleaner" to us, and I think that's probably due to the no smoking anywhere inside thing.

 

Also, anyone looking at the pictures, that ice at the "Crush" bar is real. After looking at so many pictures online before our cruise, I was convinced it had to be fake because it always looked so perfect. It is indeed real!

 

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I agree that it is nicer not having the smoke in the casino.

[DarthGrady]

The beautiful Ocean Liners restaurant, made to resemble the dining rooms from the golden age of passenger ships

 

 

 

The foyer contains many vintage items from the ships of yesteryear

 

 

 

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[DarthGrady]

Cafe al Bacio on deck 5 serves specialty coffees and pastries

 

 

 

 

It also has a gelato counter

 

[DarthGrady]

Thanks for the report.

 

You're welcome :)

[DarthGrady]

The Tuscan Gill is the ship's Italian specialty restaurant

 

 

 

 

The Seaview Restaurant is the ship's buffet and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It houses the pizzeria (my favorite), a made to order pasta and deli stations, and an ice cream counter. Unlike lower lines that just have soft serve machines, Celebrity offers actual scooped ice cream which is a nice touch.

 

 

 

For dinner, the deli counter has cooked to order meats

 

[DarthGrady]

The main pool area

 

 

The Solarium

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The gymnasium

 

 

 

 

Part of the basketball court was walled off as they add scrubbers to the ship's exhaust system

 

[DarthGrady]

The foyer outside the Reflections Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by DarthGrady

[cl.klink]

Love the photos. Love the M class.

 

Will the Ocean Liner's restaurant be phased out in favor of Tuscan Grille, like on some other M class ships?

 

- Joel

[DarthGrady]

The Library and Apple iLounge

 

 

 

Poor weather on embarkation day as we left Fort Lauderdale

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Michael's Club for higher level Captain's Club members and suite guests. I snuck in to take a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

As we were about to debark in Key West I noticed one of the gas turbines sitting near the gangway. I'm not sure whether it is a spare, or disused when they converted her to partial diesel power. Either way, it is interesting to see one on display.

 

 

Fort Zachary Taylor is an interesting piece of history that sits right near the piers. It's worth a visit for anyone interested.

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

When it was active the fort sat away from land surrounded by water, it is now surrounded by land created from dredging fill.

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

The differences between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are more minor details than broad strokes. I mentioned the scooped ice cream. The real hand towels in the restrooms are also a nice touch. The contoured seats are also welcome to a pool barfly like me.

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Although I did not go into Cozumel on this cruise, I still had opportunity to get some pictures of the other ships in port

 

 

 

 

[DarthGrady]

 

 

 

Some of the other Captain's Club benefits

 

 

[DarthGrady]

Some random sightings:

 

 

Drinks and cold towels are provided upon returning from ports of call

 

 

A drink cooling ice sculpture

 

 

 

The pool deck in full swing on a sea day