Constellation 12/3/05 review - LONG

[pennstater]

OK - I've been trying to get to this since I returned, but this is such a busy time of year! Also, I'm hoping I don't get flamed for posting some of my comments - I see that someone posted about the water problem and some people here didn't seem to like that. Unfortunately, we had the same problem. So, here goes:

 

Background: Myself, DH, and our travel companions are all ~30 - DH's 7th cruise, my 1st big-ship cruise, one friend's first time, and the other's 2nd. One friend is a grad student, the other is unemployed, and DH and I are employed full-time. Our one friend is close to a full recovery from a long-term health problem and I ended up breaking my ankle a few months before the cruise - therefore, we relaxed a lot and didn't participate in many activities. I did a lot of research prior to the cruise, mostly here on CC. Friends booked an oceanview guarantee and were in 2014. We booked a veranda guarantee and were bumped up to CC 7195.

 

Embarkation: We had a late flight and boarded ~6pm. It was pretty quiet as most people had already boarded. We bought some wine and liquor at the duty free shop at the terminal (with the impression that X didn’t really enforce their alcohol policy – I won’t go into that here, already posted a thread on the topic) and had it taken at the end of the gangway. Oh well – disappointed, mostly because I steered my friends wrong. Welcomed onto the ship, but no champagne offered. Oh well. Led in several directions by several different staff – finally got us to the correct hallway (the last person to lead us smilingly admitted that she had her hallways reversed.) A strange thing happened there – A nice young woman said hello and started to lead us, but she didn’t introduce herself. Halfway down the hall, we met 4 women headed in the opposite direction. The woman leading us stopped, waved us by, greeted the women and introduced herself as Analiza, their stateroom attendant. Thought it was odd that she stopped escorting us, but figured she must not be our stateroom attendant – got to our room and indeed she was, according to the name plate on the vanity. She never did officially introduce herself to us, but we figured it out. At this point, we weren’t feeling very welcome. Our friends joined us in our room, we all ordered room service and waited for our bags. Our bags arrived about 2 hours after boarding – same time as our friends, so I’m not sure how effective the CC express baggage delivery really is. After a long day of travel, we were tired and disappointed that we weren’t treated more ‘famously’ – however, we were on vacation and ready to relax and have a good time!

 

Ship: Beautiful, modern, bright – I loved Constellation. I thought most of the art was clever and thought-provoking, particularly the photography. The mirrored ceilings really added to the spacious feeling. Funny, but I didn’t really feel crowded, but I didn’t feel like I was in a huge cruise ship either. My favorite spot on the ship – the bar at the edge of the Earth! Absolutely fantastic décor and the light shows on the transparent screens (so cool!) were fascinating. We didn’t spend a lot of time here, but that was because I really wanted to get up and dance and couldn’t! We also only went here in the evenings, for the nightclub. The martini bar was the area we spent time in each night, either before or after dinner – but not for the décor, just the drinks and people-watching. Our room was nice and I loved having the veranda. I don’t think I would pay extra for Concierge Class, but the duvet and pillow menu were nice additions. Also, we had yellowish water off and on the whole cruise. It would get better as you ran the water, but there was a ring in the sink from it. I also found some water pressure issues at times – the water would literally drip from the showerhead – and I would have to wait a bit for the pressure to return. This happened maybe 4-5 times. I was willing to work around these things so it didn’t bother me too much. I did hear 2 other couples in the cabins below us discussing the water issue each day before dinner. Guess it wasn’t isolated to our cabin or deck. OH, I can’t forget to mention the T-pool – great place to relax with a good book, have a nice hot soak and let the worries of the world melt away.

 

Staff: Despite the odd start, Analiza ended up being a good stateroom attendant. She was always helpful and prompt with any requests, but she never seemed to ‘check up on us’ which fit our style but may not be for everyone. Our waiter, Adrian, and his assistant, Sergei, were just great. I did have to do a bit of work to get my crème brulee when it wasn’t on the menu – had to ask 2 different nights and then ask the asst. maitre’d at the suggestion of Adrian. We had it for the rest of the cruise. Sudi, the martini master, was a blast! He is the true entertainment on the ship – and the martinis aren’t bad either! Overall, we were a bit surprised by the amount of service staff – it just didn’t seem like there were enough staff to perform tasks such as pool butlers, buffet servers (I was only offered to have my tray carried twice), etc. The staff that were there did some high quality service, but it seemed like there was more work than they could handle.

 

Ports: Again, it is important to mention that we aren’t much for tours and we needed some low-key activities. Also, we had at least some rain every day – a couple of days were a total washout, and others were just hit with a period of rain and then the weather was fine.

Dominican Rep – Rained off and on all day, so I spent the day at the spa and DH and friends went into town on the shuttle. They had a nice time walking around, but didn’t do a lot here.

Sea day - A bit cloudy and quite windy - made for a rocky day and I had to take some Dramamine. A few drizzles, but we relaxed at the T-pool.

Grenada – This was our most anticipated stop. We honeymooned here and love this island! I understand a bit more now regarding others’ views of the island – the new terminal is right in the busy market area rather than the picturesque Carenage harbor – once you leave the terminal, you drop into the craziness of market solicitation. Market culture is fine, when you are expecting it, but if you want to avoid it, you really can’t. Plus, you have to do the narrow tunnel walk to get to the Carenage which can be a bit intimidating with all the cars going through at the same time! We knew where to go and what to see, so we still loved it. We had lunch at Coconut Beach Restaurant and spent the afternoon on the beach until the sky opened up and it poured rain. We took a wet water taxi back to the ship and enjoyed the view of the island from our balcony when the rain passed. Overall, a nice day. And it didn’t hurt that it brought back great memories! If you get a chance to visit, Grenada is a naturally beautiful island and a tour of the island is sure to impress (we didn’t do a tour since we were only there for one day and we were just there 3 years ago). And make sure to buy some spices and help support the local economy!

Barbados – Rained all day. We went to the terminal and that was it. Napped a lot and spent some time at the T-pool. It was still a relaxing day.

St. Kitts – We took a taxi to Caribelle Batik and really enjoyed the beautiful grounds and the studio. I bought some fabric and a pareo. We asked the taxi driver to recommend a beach and we ended up at South Friar’s Beach. BTW - a rain storm passed through while we were in the taxi, so it worked out perfectly for us! Maybe 6 other people were on our end of the beach and there was a little hut for drinks, etc. We spent the rest of the day here and had the best day of our trip. I would highly recommend this beach for a spot that isn’t too crowded and many people were snorkeling not too far off shore. It’s a beautiful island that isn’t too ‘touristy’ yet – we are going to plan a land-based vacation to really get to know the island and its culture. Loved St. Kitts!

St. Thomas – We slept in (as we did pretty much every day) and then went into town for shopping. I scored some great deals on perfumes, particularly those that are discontinued now. I also bought some larimar stones and beads for jewelry making. Next time I go here, I will budget accordingly for more great shopping!

 

Food/Drink: I thought the food in the dining room was good, especially for ‘mass produced’ food. Oceanliners was excellent! We went all out and had the 6-course meal with wine. We were so glad we did – as has been mentioned before, the goat cheese soufflé was wonderful and our friends loved the lamb. As for other meals, DH had the pizza almost every day, but I didn’t think it was very good. I liked the burgers at the Seaside Grill. We did the lunch buffet when necessary, but weren’t overly impressed. The one day we had lunch in the dining room, we found the food to be much better as usual. We missed breakfast most days, but did room service one day – the food was room temperature and the eggs were a bit runny for my taste – but the fruit was good and DH liked his smoothie. We made it to the breakfast buffet twice and liked it pretty well.

 

Entertainment: We attended a couple of the poolside parties at night and had a pretty good time. We didn’t go to any shows other than Cirque – they were great, as expected. It was a great addition to our cruise experience. Also, the light show put on for the Masquerade Party in the bar at the edge was great – I could have stayed there all night! Our friends went to some shows and always had good things to say.

 

Spa: Although I had a great time chatting with Alicia (had we met at home, we would have been instant friends), the treatments were only average and over-priced in my opinion. She did a good job, but for the price and time, I expected things like paraffin wax dips with my manicure and pedicure. It was a nice way to relax on a rainy port day, so I did enjoy myself and relax.

 

Medical services: One of our friends boarded with what she thought was a cold…well, it turned out to be an infection of some sort and she had to go to the infirmary. They ran some tests (yes, they do have a lab on the ship) and her white blood cell count was alarmingly high. She and her DH are seasoned patients and they felt the medical care was good.

 

Misc: I think I should note that we had an emergency with our cat less than 36 hours before we left so we had some extra ‘emotional baggage’ we were carrying around with us. It was hard not to worry, but we made sure he was in good hands before leaving and tried to focus on our relaxing vacation!

 

Cruising Overall: OK – please no flames here – I’m not sure if cruising will be my vacation of choice, as a general rule. I prefer sleeping late and exploring new places at a leisurely pace. Only getting 1 day in a port just doesn’t seem like enough to soak up the atmosphere. I felt like I needed to keep a schedule to squeeze in activities and I like my vacations to take a slow pace and not feel rushed. My in-laws like the busy, scheduled vacations and DH and I have been on enough of these to know that it isn’t our preferred vacation style – to each his/her own! I know that some people cruise for the particular ship amenities, rather than ports, and I also understand that perspective – however, if I want something like that, (a relaxing, luxury pool/beach vacation,) I think that island resorts are more my speed because I get to make my own schedule. If I want a vacation for the destination, then I prefer several days to get to know the location. That isn’t to say I won’t cruise again – I think I would enjoy cruises with destinations that are best experienced by water (Alaskan glaciers, Norwegian fjords, Panama Canal, Galapagos, etc.) I am glad we chose this cruise – not only for the new experience, but for the chance to get a taste of several islands that we might not have otherwise visited – now we know that we definitely want to visit St. Kitts for a land-based vacation!

 

Hope this was helpful to someone - please ask anything and I will do my best to answer. If I think of something important, I'll add later... you have all read enough by now! :o

[Donna111]

Dawn,

Thank you for the impartial review. I will be on the Constellation in March in a CC class cabin also next year and appreciate the info on the ship.

Donna

[Schplinky]

Is the six course meal the menu exceptional? How much was it? Must everyone select it?

[mii]

Thank you for the balanced review. Since I will be on the Constellation next Oct. I was curious about the colored water issue. There is no rhyme or reason on where the colored water comes into what deck or cabin area. Very confusing. I guess I will just wait and see.

 

Marilyn

[Scott Cyn]

Dawn, thanks for the very well written review. I appreciate anybody taking the time to put down their thoughts and experiences for the benefit of the rest of us.

 

I'm starting to get a little concerned about this water thing. I've seen a few people post bad experiences and I have waved them off, figuring them to be isolated problems. But it seems people are commenting on it regularly now.

 

This seems so out of character for Celebrity to allow something like this to continue. How can you treat people famously if you aren't even getting clean water into their stateroom?

 

I am not being an alarmist, but I'm starting to get concerned. Does anybody have any insight on this issue?

 

Scott

[goldmom]

Thanks for the review. We just booked this ship for the March repo cruise. We have also booked a verandah gty. When did you find out your cabin assignment? Before you left, or when you got to the pier? Did they ever change it after they assigned one to you?

 

I think it was a fair and informative review. Everyone seems to have different experiences on a cruise, even on the same trip. I have also heard a lot here about the water problem. Guess I will just not drink it to be on the safe side. Although everyone seems to say that the problem is confined to the bathrooms and didn't affect the dining room water.

 

Thanks again for the review.

[RickandAnne]

OK - I've been trying to get to this since I returned, but this is such a busy time of year! Also, I'm hoping I don't get flamed for posting some of my comments

 

WOW! You were worried about getting flamed and posters seem to be appreciating your reivew. I agree, too.....nice job.....very even handed.

 

Like others, I'm interested because we, too, are on Connie in March for the repositioning cruise to Bayonne. This brackish water thing seems to be a constant theme and that bothers me a little. The water they served you in the cabin with ice ....was it clean? (BTW my wife and I had cabin 7195 also on Infinity) The drinking water has been very good in the past.

 

Noticed we are neighbors with Penn State interests. Thank you for the review. "We Are...."

[pennstater]

Is the six course meal the menu exceptional? How much was it? Must everyone select it?

Yes, it is the 'Menu Exceptional' and yes, everyone must choose from this menu or the regular 4-course menu. The 6-courses are smaller than the 4-courses, so it is actually possible to eat your meal! The 4-course menu is ~$30 and the 6-course menu is ~$60 - I think it was worth the cost for the 4-5 glasses of wine (they say they are small glasses of wine, but seemed to be fairly close to a true serving size and you can't get a much better deal for well-matched wines by the glass.) However, you don't have to get the included wine - our friend wasn't able to drink alcohol, so she didn't have the wine served. I'm not sure if that changed the cost or not, but I'll see if I can find out.

[pennstater]

Thanks for the review. We just booked this ship for the March repo cruise. We have also booked a verandah gty. When did you find out your cabin assignment? Before you left, or when you got to the pier? Did they ever change it after they assigned one to you?

Glad it was helpful to you! Shortly after we booked, I logged into My Celebrity to complete our personal information and link our reservations to our friends. That was when we saw our cabin assignment and the upgrade. It didn't change at all. That was several months (maybe 4?) before the cruise. You might want to check and see if you have an assignment now. Hope you get a nice cabin and have a great cruise!

[pennstater]

WOW! You were worried about getting flamed and posters seem to be appreciating your reivew. I agree, too.....nice job.....very even handed.

 

Like others, I'm interested because we, too, are on Connie in March for the repositioning cruise to Bayonne. This brackish water thing seems to be a constant theme and that bothers me a little. The water they served you in the cabin with ice ....was it clean? (BTW my wife and I had cabin 7195 also on Infinity) The drinking water has been very good in the past.

 

Noticed we are neighbors with Penn State interests. Thank you for the review. "We Are...."

PENN STATE! :D Hey neighbor!

 

I tend to worry when I say anything that isn't entirely positive... guess it was misplaced worry! :o Glad you found it informative!

 

The water served in the cabin and the dining room was never discolored (and I checked every glass as I was a tiny bit concerned.) It seems to be isolated to the sink and shower water in the cabin. I probably could have made a big fuss over it, but I just used the water served in the carafe for consumption. I'm hoping that they will have the water problem fixed very soon - maybe someone returning from the most recent cruises on Connie can let us know if it is still continuing.

 

Have a great cruise!

[lablvr2]

Happy Holidays to all!

 

I just started thinking about another cruise this week and have been looking at the Constellation. Thought it was time to check back here to see what has been experienced. And as usual, I can count on you guys :)

 

I know we will never do another Princess cruise and I have 7 RCI cruises behind me. Being able to get some credit for that aboard Celebrity is a good perk. Thanks for the information!

 

Susan

[Schplinky]

I know we will never do another Princess cruise and I have 7 RCI cruises behind me. Being able to get some credit for that aboard Celebrity is a good perk. Thanks for the information!

 

Susan

 

Why no Princess for you? Was it a particular thing that turned you off? We're thinking of trying them after our next X and RCL cruises so we'd be keen to know.

[Lsimon]

The next day we received a card in our cabin changing our table to a table for 2 on the upper level. This was just really disappointing because I really had been looking forward enjoying the dinners as we had on our previous cruises.

 

If this happens again I'd encourage you to have a discussion with the Asst. Matr'd. On our last cruise our party of 4 asked to be at a large table. Apparently message didn't get through as we were at a table for 4 first night. The Matr'd was very understanding and put us with other people who were being switched for one reason or another so that the next night, and thereafter, we were at a table for 10.

 

The Asst. matr'd came by quite often and was much more personable than in the past, and on finding out we were to be on the Summit again this coming March even took all our info and promised to get a nice table to our liking for that cruise.

[Buckeye@sea]

Thanks for getting us reunited with a great week ...man could we use another cruise :p

Here is some of our thoughts ...

Embarkation - went really smooth at 12:45 PM .. ten minutes from curb to boarding. We ate lunch at Seaside, booked day-at-sea Spa time, and just relaxed. It was good meeting the CC crew at Martini Bar ... surprised so many went to see the Celebrity players show the first night ... I guess we are seasoned enough that an hour with Sudi is always more entertaining :) ... had a great dinner with CC friends at a ten-top (including our buds from Texas ... Sherri and Jim) ... muster stations as usual ... watched San Juan fade in the rain as we headed to sea ... we came in to SJ the day before ... stayed at the Intercontinental ... it needs updating ... do the Caribe Hilton instead

DR - the stop at Casa de Campo was great last year ... we did the Countryside Tour, which was a good look at the real island (a working and somewhat cruel sugar cane plantation, cock-fighting camp, cigar making factory) ... this year in the rain we stayed on board. Relaxing time. Our friends Debbie and Terry from OH joined us at San Marco with a great couple from CT ... Donna and Bob ... who were on week two of a B2B

Day at Sea - second veranda breakfast. Analiza (also our steward) was fabulous all week. We really like concierge. We also had an aft room, which is huge. Analiza has a story so typical of the great service on Celebrity ... two kids in the Phillippines that she sees six months of the year ... the other six are at sea ... she was great ... we went to the show after dinner and saw one of the Lettermen ... he was a 60-something lounge lizard, but was entertaining. Ate at Ocean Liners that night with our usual table mates plus Mandy and Ryun from Flagstaff. Great food and service ... a well-spent $60 plus tip. Did the souffles. You MUST do the goat cheese souffle.

Grenada - did the tour with Mandoo. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! Anyone going to Grenada must do this. Ask him to take you to Gem Beach before going to the ship. It is a great beach. Mandoo is an educated, diplomatic spokesperson for the island. You will see great things, but the commentary is worth the price!

Barbados - we planned on doing a bus day trip with Jim and Sherri to Crane Beach and/or Mullins Beach ... but the rains came, and we stayed on board. We love Barbados ... we were disappointed in the rain. Another restful day. Saw the ventriloquist that night after dinner ... he was great. Marianne found a reason to get to the Spa again, since we were ship-bound.

St Kitts - Sherri said it, but do the Catamaran trip to Nevis. Great snokeling at the south end of St Kitts before heading across the channel to Nevis for the beach bar-b-q ... good times with Bob and Donna, Ed and Peggy, Tim and Jessica, and a bunch of other nice people on the cat. Formal night was fun that night. Standard flaming baked Alaska parade. Our servers were great ... the food exceptional.

St Thomas - we have a tradition of rushing through on-board customs and getting to St John asap, via taxi and ferry from Red Hook. We arrived there in the rain, but after 30 minutes of wait, the weather turned beautiful. We spent some time at our favorite beaches, then lunch at Cruz Bay, ferry back to Charlotte Amalie ... power shopping for t-shirts (whew ... got off cheap!) ... packing ... dinner ... then chilling out on the last night. Peggy and Ed shared our St Thomas departure from our veranda. Then the crawl over the 90 miles to San Juan.

San Juan - easy pass through and luggage collection. We were at SJU by 8:45 for a 12:45 flight :(

All in all, a great trip. We saw water from the tap that was darker than normal, but felt safe for bathing and brushing teeth. Service was really good. Seemed like the crew was really happy to see us. Sudi was my best friend all week, even though I do not drink. San Marco staff was great. It is always good to see the CC people! The one downer was the complete lack of interest on the part of the crew leadership in attending the CC gathering on Sunday morning. But they did supply coffee and pastries. Too bad they missed a PR opportunity.

See the link for photos.

Bill & Marianne

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...4bsXEQ&notag=1

[Schplinky]

Buckeye,

 

Great pictures! You have a good eye.