Thinking to book Connie in March, Bad idea? (few cruises before dry-dock)

[Cirdan]

As the title say, I was thinking to book short term an Asia-India-Arabic sea cruise, or a Suez canal cruise. It seems that just after that, Constellation will go to dry dock for the "Revolution" retrofit.

 

Constellation is also old, so I do not want to see half broken ship (lack of maintenance), or to have some public parts being closed and taken apart.

 

What do you think? It will be a standard Celebrity cruise or I should expect annoying stuffs? How it was cruising just before drydock on Millennium and Summit?

[TeeRick]

I don't think that you run much risk of Connie being a half broken ship.  Celebrity maintains its ships even the older ones very well.  

[jelayne]

We have been on the Connie many times and the ship is well maintained.  That’s not to say you wont’t find some nicks in cabinets or some upholstery that is a bit worn.  
If you board her thinking this is a old broken ship you’ll see every flaw.  If you go looking to have a great time on a ship with a excellent crew that’s what you will have.

[Cirdan]

I was recently on Connie, and I had not problem with her. You will see maintenance here and there.

But I'm more worried about lack of maintenance on last few cruises because they will remove/replace stuffs.

[cruisinsusin]

We were on the last cruise before Equinox "revolution" in May and did not see any of the issues you mentioned. 

[ipeeinthepool]

On 10/10/2019 at 9:03 AM, Cirdan said:

As the title say, I was thinking to book short term an Asia-India-Arabic sea cruise, or a Suez canal cruise. It seems that just after that, Constellation will go to dry dock for the "Revolution" retrofit.

 

Constellation is also old, so I do not want to see half broken ship (lack of maintenance), or to have some public parts being closed and taken apart.

 

What do you think? It will be a standard Celebrity cruise or I should expect annoying stuffs? How it was cruising just before drydock on Millennium and Summit?

 

I don't think you will find a half-broken ship but it is reasonable to expect that some work may be started during your cruise and there may be some areas closed.

[MightyMike]

I remember seeing reports from the Summit that nothing seemed out of the ordinary until the last day of the last cruise before dry dock.

[cruiseerf]

My concern would not be the ship itself.  My concern would be that they would be using up foods to empty the ship before the drydock and Employee thoughts would be elsewhere.  We once did a Princess cruise two cruises prior to drydock and it was a horror, They had transferred the best staff to other ships.  Terrible food, Construction workers and engineers onboard getting ready for the big re-do.....We would not do this again and think your concern is genuine and should be.  Learn from our mistake....book something else.  We lived it. 

[cruisinsusin]

16 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I don't think you will find a half-broken ship but it is reasonable to expect that some work may be started during your cruise and there may be some areas closed.

Based on our experience in April on Equinox, we did not see workmen until the morning that we were disembarking and did not see any areas closed during the cruise. 

[CruiseDad-NYC]

I was just on the Constellation in August for a 10 day cruise from Vencie to Croatia and Greece.  I had wondered about the ship, because it is older. But, I was very happy to find it was incredibly well-maintained and in excellent shape.  I would not hesitate to go on it again, even if it were not retrofitted.  In fact, I had my eye on those very 2 cruises you've been thinking about and would go on them in a heartbeat, except my kids have school then. 

 

The Suez Canal repositioning cruise for November is also extremely well-priced now. Plus, Celebrity is pulling out of the Mid-east and India voyages after the spring, so this is your last chance.

 

Go for it!

Edited October 14, 2019 by CruiseDad-NYC

[Cirdan]

I was in Arabic sea and India last year (with Connie) and I loved it, and the ship was full, so reading about Summit, I hope there will be no troubles.

 

But, reading the comments, maybe it is better not to do the last cruise before dry dock: the Suez Canal: there is also not many docking ports on such cruise, for "emergency" resupplies.