Dec 13 Constellation B2B - East/West Caribbean (Holiday) Cruise

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s a fun fact. Ever walk back from an excursion along the pier and look over at the ship and see the words NO TUG? Ever wonder what that term actually means? We did, so we asked. The orange piece of equipment in the below picture represents an example of what a TUG is and when docking the ship, this type of equipment or something similar should not be located where NO TUG is present on the side of the ship. 😎

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[hcat]

On 12/12/2021 at 8:17 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived at the Hyatt Place hotel near Busch Gardens, approximately 9 miles from the port, which was over $100 cheaper than the Hyatt near the port if anyone is interested. Happily, without any unforeseen drama along the way.
 

Hopefully, the Connie will make up most of her lost time overnight and arrive in port early enough for us to start boarding by noon or shortly thereafter. One can hope anyway. 😎

Thanks for the hotel tip.

Busch Gardens would ve a great add on post cruise if u have time!

[hcat]

Great review.. 

We spend winters south of Tampa and hope to cruise from there  eventually. Next for us is Beyond RT port Ev

 

Nice to hear RC treated staff well during the Covid Pause. Means alot!

 

Not happy to hear there might be thumping  music at poolside...not good for relaxation!

 

ENJOY!

[canderson]

On 12/15/2021 at 9:47 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s a picture of Michaels with the concierge Liz.

 

Tell Paolo and Liz that the Andersons (off 11/22) said hello.  They were a great help when anything needed sorted out.  It was thanks to Liz that we were able to post the PDF of the MDR menu rotation, and thanks to Paolo that we got our OBC sorted out, and lots of other good things.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by canderson

[canderson]

On 12/13/2021 at 2:26 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

First, you have to have plenty of idle time to do stuff like this. But, yes, you basically count the number of available cabins on the diagram. But obviously it’s not too accurate as I’m hearing there are only about 425 passengers on this cruise whereas when I made my earlier guesstimated count based on available cabins, it was much higher and I can’t believe 600+ passengers cancelled because they tested positive. So, throw that theory out the window. 😎

There are still new crew occupying pax cabins for their 14 night required solo quarantine.  There are a number of reasons that the count gets skewed if you just try to count empties on a dummy booking.

[Ken the cruiser]

21 hours ago, Payd said:

We are reading your review and enjoying watching your vacation. We've booked our first suite for August, but just decided to book a b2b2b (because you are having so much fun!!).  We have a question about duty free (which is a big deal to Canadians with all the $$$ tax on alcohol), we typically purchase Glenlevit scotch but can't remember the price. Any chance you can drop by the shop and let us know? In March 2020 they offered a Glenlevit blend at a great price. *blend in terms of barrel years

We stopped by the liquor store after dinner and here’s what we found. Hope this helps.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

51 minutes ago, canderson said:

Tell Paolo and Liz that the Andersons (off 11/22) said hello.  They were a great help when anything needed sorted out.  It was thanks to Liz that we were able to post the PDF of the MDR menu rotation, and thanks to Paolo that we got our OBC sorted out, and lots of other good things.

Will do.

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight after a tasty dinner in Le Petit Chef, we went to the Rendezvous Lounge and participated in Majority Rules. We actually tied for first place, but it took the combined insight of 6 people to do it! Afterwards, my DW along with daughter and spouse went up to the Oceanview Cafe to play a game called Pan Am while I headed to listen to the pianist, Hyperion Knight, play in the main theater. It’s not that I like listening to classic piano music, but I would just be in their way as complicated board games are definitely not my thing. Did I mention my daughter works for a company that creates complicated games. 😎

 

 

Then afterwards as I was heading back to our cabin, some Christmas decorations on the stairway in the Grand Foyer caught my eye.

 

 

 

[Payd]

55 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We stopped by the liquor store after dinner and here’s what we found. Hope this helps.

 

Thank you! You're amazing! You didn't just answer my question, you went above and beyond to take the photo and offer a listing of the current offerings. Cheers to you!

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

Not happy to hear there might be thumping  music at poolside...not good for relaxation!

 

ENJOY!

One additional note if you book a cabin on deck 9 under the pool area. Around 11:30 pm or when it starts to calm down around the pool, especially if there was a late night function going on, you may hear the crew realigning chairs for about 10-15 minutes or so. Just another reason to avoid booking a cabin under the pool area if subtle noises bother you.

[canderson]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Will do.

And while you're about it, give Russell a big hug from the Andersons as well.  Just mention 'goat cheese souffle'.

 

If you're an old Celebrity cruiser, and recall with fondness the goat cheese souffle from the old Ocean Liners specialty restaurant on Connie (or that of any of the other M class ships), if you tell her how much you miss that dish, don't be surprised if she arranges some for you! 

 

[hcat]

Another reason to avoid deck 9.

We always try to find a cabin with cabins above and below us or in  a quiet area.  

 

Sounds like Celeb is  doing more games for activities. Sounds more like Royal C .  Hope not alot of pool games.. they are noisy and we leave..We  get out there  early and enjoy some quiet time.

 

Have you  used the Solarium or spa?

[vickykay]

Thank sKen for the info regarding St. Kitts.  May look into the excursion you took.  And thank you for the very detailed review.  
 

Vicky

[Ken the cruiser]

18 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s a fun fact. Ever walk back from an excursion along the pier and look over at the ship and see the words NO TUG? Ever wonder what that term actually means? We did, so we asked. The orange piece of equipment in the below picture represents an example of what a TUG is and when docking the ship, this type of equipment or something similar should not be located where NO TUG is present on the side of the ship. 😎

 

 

 

OK, I know this is going to come as a shock to some of you and I just want to apologize upfront. I was fed some inaccurate information which I subsequently past along to you all without verifying it. I know, this type of thing doesn’t usually happen on CC and I just wanted to set the record straight. 😂

 

So after verifying the correct answer with 2 other crew members along with asking Ms Google, the correct answer is …. Wait for it ….

 

Tug in the Anglo-Saxon language means tugboat. NO TUG means NO TUG. This great symbol is generally found in the doors or openings where the platforms are set up to embark or disembark passengers from and to the tenders when the ships are at anchor. It is an area considered as delicate or sensitive and when it is closed it indicates that the tugs when they approach the boat, cannot and should not lean on it. There are some ships of some shipping companies that not only have this indication expressed in this way, but also indicate where they can do it using the word TUG with an arrow pointing down.

 

I know. Who knew!! 😂😂

 

https://cruises-info.com/what-do-the-symbols-that-exist-on-cruise-ship-hulls-mean/

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, hcat said:

Another reason to avoid deck 9.

We always try to find a cabin with cabins above and below us or in  a quiet area.  

 

Sounds like Celeb is  doing more games for activities. Sounds more like Royal C .  Hope not alot of pool games.. they are noisy and we leave..We  get out there  early and enjoy some quiet time.

 

Have you  used the Solarium or spa?

We also like to book our cabin with cabins above and below us. But when that rare 2 for 1 deal comes along and there are only two sky suites to choose from, both on deck 9 where one was handicap accessible, we really didn’t have many options. But that’s OK, the noise is not all that annoying and it doesn’t happen that often.

 

As far as using the solarium or spa, we don’t. But since we’ll be cruising in more AQ cabins in the future, we’re definitely planning to start packing swimsuits to take advantage of the variety of free spa options that come along with Aqua class. But, for now, we mostly sit on our shaded veranda when we want to relax outside.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, vickykay said:

Thank sKen for the info regarding St. Kitts.  May look into the excursion you took.  And thank you for the very detailed review.  
 

Vicky

If you haven’t been on the Celebrity Rail and (optional) Sail excursion yet, we would definitely recommend that excursion first. We really had a marvelous time on that excursion when we were here last month on the Apex. But if you’ve already done the train, this open air excursion was also a lot of fun, just not as much fun as the train ride. 😎

Edited December 19, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

BTW we arrived in St Thomas today. But since all Celebrity excursions lead to Magens Bay, of which we have been too many times before, we decided to sleep and hang out around the ship today.
 

But I did find a tasty combination for breakfast up at the buffet. After serving for 20+ years in the USAF, I have developed a taste for sausage gravy or more affectionately known as SOS. Well, I tried theirs a couple of days ago and the gravy was tasty, but the biscuits were hard. So, today, I tried the gravy over 2 waffles, and viola, I have a new favorite breakfast treat when we wind up eating up there, which seems most of the time lately! 😎

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[hrhdhd]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

BTW we arrived in St Thomas today. But since all Celebrity excursions lead to Magens Bay, of which we have been too many times before, we decided to sleep and hang out around the ship today.
 

But I did find a tasty combination for breakfast up at the buffet. After serving for 20+ years in the USAF, I have developed a taste for sausage gravy or more affectionately known as SOS. Well, I tried theirs a couple of days ago and the gravy was tasty, but the biscuits were hard. So, today, I tried the gravy over 2 waffles, and viola, I have a new favorite breakfast treat when we wind up eating up there, which seems most of the time lately! 😎

 

OMG: waffles and gravy! Genius! 😁

 

Thanks for your notes and pictures. I can't wait to join you on the ship on Thursday! It's going to be a chilly-ish sailaway from Tampa.

[bocamimi]

On 12/12/2021 at 5:16 PM, cgolf1 said:

Excited to hear how it goes. We have only sailed Celebrity on the Edge and will be on the Constellation in early 2022 and we are happy we get to see it before it is revolutionized. Enjoy your trip!

But

[vickykay]

For some reason they are not offering the rail and sail excursion on our Jan. 29th Apex cruise.  It did sound good.

[cgolf1]

8 hours ago, bocamimi said:

But

???

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, vickykay said:

For some reason they are not offering the rail and sail excursion on our Jan. 29th Apex cruise.  It did sound good.

That’s ok. The rail portion is the major part of the excursion anyway. We liked the sail portion because everyone went up top or out on the bow while we had the whole covered area in the main part of the catamaran to ourselves. But, again, the train ride is definitely worth it if you’ve never been on it before! 

[Ken the cruiser]

On 12/13/2021 at 8:04 PM, goldsmip115 said:

Ken, is your butler Anu?  The Sunshine Skyway actually connects Tampa to St Pete/Clearwater and not the Florida keys. I know that because I lived in Tampa for 20 years. Your pictures of sailing under the skyway are far better than those I took 21 days ago.  Ahhh, such memories. 

Just found out, Anu is our daughter’s butler down on deck 6 and they think he’s great. We’re up here on deck 9 and our butler is Suren. 

[Ken the cruiser]

After another tasty dinner in the Tuscan Grille this evening, we first went to the 60 Second Challenge game show in the Rendezvous Lounge and had a great time before going to the evening production show, Broadway Cabaret, in the main theater. Afterwards, we went up to watch one of the funniest Liars Club game shows we have ever seen!!

 

[canderson]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just found out, Anu is our daughter’s butler down on deck 6 and they think he’s great. We’re up here on deck 9 and our butler is Suren. 

She's in the best of hands.  Wish we were back on 6 with her.