Review of the Constellation 12/10/2005-12/17/2005.

[PRCouple]

Our itinerary was St. Marteen, Dominica. St. Lucia, Isla Margarita (Venezuela), and Aruba.We enjoy all the islands. Each has it's own charm, but the one we like the most was Isla Margarita.St. Marteen we went to Orient Beach. Dominica we tour with Reyno Tours, and had a very good time. St Lucia the tour was provided by Frank's Tours, which is a little expensive but the tour was superb and worth the money. In Isla Margarita we booked our tour with Celebrity and we really enjoyed everything about this island except for the flies. We been to Aruba four times so we went directly to Palm Beach which is a beautiful and calm beach with tons of things to do.

 

This is our sixth cruise, but our first one in Celebrity Cruises. My wife and I have previously cruised three times with Princess (Dawn, Sapphire, Golden), once with Carnival (Destiny), and once with RCI (Serenade of the Seas). I will like for my review to be as good and precise as other reviews, but since English is my second language sometimes I make mistakes and if I do please forgive me.

 

The embarkation process-- in San Juan was excellent. Both Celebrity a the Port Authority did a great job. We check-in in approximately 15 minutes.

 

The ship-- The Constellation is a beautiful ship. The pools were very good, but it was very hard to find a lounge chair during the day. The pool in the Aqua Spa was very good to relax after returing to the ship.The ship was very easy to get around, and never seem to be to crowded. I have a walking difficulty and found the ship to be very accessible. The lay out of the ship was very easy to learn. The Martini Bar and the Champagne Bar were very relaxing and beautiful. I can not say the same about The bar in the front of the ship on deck 11 which we did not find appealing.

 

The entertainment -- was outstanding. We watched all the shows in the theater including C d S and were very happy with all of them. I have to mention a few negative remarks about entertainment. The first one is the daily program, because a little confusing to read and understand. The movie selection for the whole cruise was not very good.

 

The food -- was good and plentiful. I will start with the buffet area. The lay out was very good and the waiters were very helpful.. The buffet had a good variety of dishes through out the whole cruise. The pasta station was awesome. The free ice cream was a big plus. The free drinks were very good and convenient, but the ship ran out of most of them before the end of the cruise. We did breakfast three times at the restaurant and the rest we went to the buffet. Both places were good, but I must mention that the service in the restaurant in open seating in the San Marcos restaurant was not as good as the dinner service. Room service I think that this ship really stands out, because of the fast service and the number of items that one can order.

 

The cabin -- We had ocean view cabin in the Continental Deck (2), cabin 2161. The cabin had a very good lay out. The bathroom was very comfortable. Our cabin stewardess was excellent and kept our cabin in great shape during the whole cruise. In the negative side we also can declare that the water coming out of the faucet in the bathroom had a yellowish tone. We brought bottle water since we have read about this problem before. I do have to say that Celebrity will have to deal with this problem very soon, because the six individuals on our table had the same problem. I must admit that we only notice the yellowish water towards the end of the cruise, but frankly it did not bother us.

 

The disembarkation process -- was some what efficient. Since we live in Puerto Rico we were some of the last people to leave the ship. I personally did not like the system of gather in central places so they will not have to make announcements. I prefer to hear the announcements and wait on the area near the pool until they call my group.

 

The conclusion-- I believe that any time I am on vacation I will enjoy it, and I will not expect the best in everything since it is almost impossible to please everyone all the time. We like our vacation very much. There were things that could have been better, but overall was a great expedience and will do it again in a heartbeat.

[mii]

Thank you for the well balanced review.

 

Marilyn

[flashdog_1]

Thank you for the review. I wonder if Celebrity is testing different methods for disembarkation. On our last trip we could stay in our staterooms until they called our deck (not a color like they usually do) to disembark. We were not in a hurry, so those on deck 9 who had made priority disembarkation requests were already gone and the stewards were cleaning their rooms while we sat in ours. We were practically the last people off and there was virtually no luggage left in the terminal. No crowds. Great!

[wvufan]

Great review-muchisima gracias.

 

I grew up in PR in the 50s and 60s, so it has been a real treat to come back as "touristas" a couple of times on cruises. Ironically, I had never been to El Morro even though I lived in the San Juan area for 12 years, and even worked in Old San Juan for almost a year! We have since had the pleasure of walking all over Old San Juan, and love it. The view of the fort coming in to the harbor is spectacular.

 

On our last cruise, we were actually on a back to back, so we docked at the Pan Am pier and had the whole day to visit. It was an absolute madhouse with folks trying to get taxis and airport shuttles. Luckily, my Spanish was still good enough to enable me to get a cab amongst all the yelling and pushing, despite the fact that we were just a cheap fare. We took the bus to Old San Juan that morning and only took the cab to Escambron Beach for the afternoon. Other than the cab hassle, the port seemed to run very smoothly. Can't wait to go back again. One of these days, we hope to sail from PR, and will plan on staying several days before and/or after.

 

Hasta luego,

 

OOOEEE Bob and Phyl

[Schplinky]

This was a very informative review and I also would like to tell you that your written communication is superior to many who claim English as a first language. Well done!

[gprentice]

Thanks for the nice review.

 

We will be travelling on the Constellation this Saturday for a Christmas week cruise.

 

Hearing your positive remarks makes pre-cruise anticipation that much better.

 

Graham