Live From the Constellation - 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean and the Americas - February 13 to 24

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Blu - the Aqua Class restaurant is open for breakfast and dinner only. I never dined there (supposedly Retreat guests may dine there on a space available basis). I believe you may be able to request items from Blu in Luminae as it all comes out of the same galley. I never requested this but I am sure they would have accommodated it.

Edited February 26, 2023 by zgscl

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Day 3 - Grand Cayman

I was supposed to go on a tour but I woke up and decided that what I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed and never get up again. So I called Michaels and advised them I would not be going on the tour and went back to bed. This was absolutely delightful, and I got up again around noon. Luminae was closed for lunch so I went up to the OV. The food tasted much better than it looks! I will say the main thing I miss about the HAL buffet is that everything is served - I am not a fan of the self serve, everyone touches the utensils model that Celebrity uses.

zgscl · February 26, 2023

I had an early dinner in Luminae which was lovely.

Around 9 I decided that I would take advantage of my unlimited specialty dining and went back to Tuscan for an evening snack. Absolutely love this perk!

Pizzetta Bianco

Chicken Parmesan (this is the standard presentation adn definitely could use more sause on the pasta!)

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Day 4 - At Sea

Smoked Salmon

Lunch:

I tried the MDR for dinner - it was OK, but does not come close to the Luminae or Tuscan quality of service. I have been really spoiled the last few cruises and this was my first time in a MDR in quite a while.

After a somewhat sad steak I went back to Tuscan for a second try! Went with a half order of the lasagna and a steak. Much better 🙂

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Day 5 - Cartagena (Overnight)

Luminae Breakfast - Granola parfait, biscuits & gravy, smoked salmnon benedict

In Cartagena we were docked next the Club Med 2, sister ship to the Wind Surf. I have never seen one of these ships up close so it was a lot of fun to be next to them for 2 days.

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Day 6 - Cartagena

Luminae lunch

Beautiful sail away

Edited February 26, 2023 by zgscl

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Today was my birthday and my butler put together some lovely decorations and a nice cake for me.

zgscl · February 26, 2023

Day 7 - Colon Panama

For today I went on the Culebra Cut shore excursion which I highly recommend. A few things about this. It is an incredible excursion, but probably a once in a lifetime type one. Going throuhg in a small boat gives you a very different perspective on the canal and is very much worth doing once. I would not go back through on the ferry, I would do it only on a cruise ship.

1) Times are subject to change. Lock times are dictated by the Panama Canal authority and sometimes the times don't work and the tour cancels. We were lucky that we had no issues.

2) This is not a full transit. Celebrity did not offer a full trransit on this cruise. We took a bus about half way through the canal and boarded the ferry boat at Gamboa before transiting the Culebra cut and then out to the Pacific Ocean. We did not see Gatun Lake at all. From Panama City we re-boarded our bus and went back to Colon.

3) The ferry will be full. Get a seat inside in the air conditioning. You can get up and walk outside whenever you want but there is no way you will get a seat if you don't grab one at the beginning. Folks who sat outside were very grumpy by the end because it is hot and the shade limited (and it can be a long day).

Tee & Chilli · February 26, 2023

I’m really enjoying your review. Thank you

mmr923 · February 26, 2023

5 hours ago, zgscl said:

You will love it either way! What ship are you on?

Constellation!

RichYak · February 26, 2023

7 hours ago, zgscl said:

For embarkation dinner I went to Tuscan...I got a nice table by a window overlooking the pool.

I never realized that on Constellation, Qsine and Tuscan have swapped locations as opposed to the other M-class ships.

cluso · February 26, 2023

Curious about what you did in Cartagena. How was the antique train ride in Puerto Limon?

Florida_gal_50 · February 26, 2023

I’m very interested in that tour you did in Panama so thank you for posting about it. I’m really enjoying the review so far.

Homosassa · February 26, 2023

On 2/24/2023 at 10:37 PM, mahdnc said:

Wow and the ship channel is so narrow, too.

As she makes her way out of Tampa, Horizon passes by what must be a Celebrity freighter (probably full of lobster tails). Mar 26 2005.

For those of you who do not know the history of the Celebrity cruise line, Celebrity once was owned by Chandris. The X (Chi) is the first letter of the Chandris name in Greek.

The X as a logo remained after the line was sold to Royal Caribbean.

The freighter in the picture is owned by Chandris (Hellas) . The company remains active with cargo ships.

zgscl · February 27, 2023

10 hours ago, cluso said:

Curious about what you did in Cartagena. How was the antique train ride in Puerto Limon?

We did an evening city tour which was done by the group and is not offered by Celebrity (except as a group excursion). We had dinner at a restaurant called Andrés Cartagena (a Colombian chain) which is extremely lively - they had an acrobatic artist, live music, etc. Food was excellent and it was fun to get off the ship for the evening. I wish I had photos, but it was a lot of fun.

zgscl · February 27, 2023

10 hours ago, cluso said:

Curious about what you did in Cartagena. How was the antique train ride in Puerto Limon?

I do not recommend the train. Will post more on that shortly. I don't think anyone on the tour was happy with it. Everyone I talked to LOVED the sloth tour with the boat ride so I would probably go that way.

zgscl · February 27, 2023

10 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’m very interested in that tour you did in Panama so thank you for posting about it. I’m really enjoying the review so far.

I definitely recommend it! But 100% sit downstairs in the air conditioning. And bring some stuff to put on your seat.

The lunch on the tour was OK. Nothing to write home about but edible and decent considering there is no galley on the boat and they had to have it all pre-made (chicken tenders, salad, pasta salad, half a ham and cheese sandwich and a cookie).

Florida_gal_50 · February 27, 2023

31 minutes ago, zgscl said:

I definitely recommend it! But 100% sit downstairs in the air conditioning. And bring some stuff to put on your seat.

The lunch on the tour was OK. Nothing to write home about but edible and decent considering there is no galley on the boat and they had to have it all pre-made (chicken tenders, salad, pasta salad, half a ham and cheese sandwich and a cookie).

That's a great tip for sure. I'll be doing that.

Jim_Iain · February 27, 2023

Really enjoying all your pictures.

MidWestCruisingFoodie · February 27, 2023

Thanks very much for the feedback on the Panama Canal and Culebra Cut excursion. We leave for the same itinerary on March 6th and appreciate the advance intel on the Ferry! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Flavors and Traditions of Mexico excursion in Cozumel as well.

zgscl · February 27, 2023

1 minute ago, MidWestCruisingFoodie said:

Thanks very much for the feedback on the Panama Canal and Culebra Cut excursion. We leave for the same itinerary on March 6th and appreciate the advance intel on the Ferry! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Flavors and Traditions of Mexico excursion in Cozumel as well.

OK so I actually bailed on that one and decided to do absolutely nothing on the ship (which was lovely). But I spoke with a few folks who went and loved it.

zgscl · February 27, 2023

I had dinner in Luminae tonight, complete with mandatory pasta.

canadianbear · February 27, 2023

@zgscl you’re killing me here with your food photos!!! Lol.

zgscl · February 27, 2023

Day 8 - Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

With an early start I had room service delivered by my butler. A very nice way to start the day.

And now for the train...a bus picked us up and took us over to the train. A few things about the train.

1) It is not at all accessible. You must climb stairs onto the train and step over a gap between cars. You also do not get on and off at a station, basically the bus drives up to the right of way and you just climb on.

2) It is an antique (which is not a problem), but of course no air conditioning or anything like that - just the breeze through the windows. It gets quite hot onboard.

3) There are ladies onboard who will try to sell you store bought snacks and sodas.

4) The train goes through the jungle/plantations. If you sit on the right side you can see the beach/coast for a while at a distance before the track turns and goes more inland.

5) Our bus was the last to arrive and so we were in the very front car which got a lot of diesel smoke and was very loud from the train horn which bothered a lot of folks.

6) The train ride is about an hour. If you are lucky they will stop and you will be able to see a monkey up in the trees.

After getting off the train and back on the bus they stop at a fruit stand/banana plantation type place for a few minutes. They were supposed to drop us off very far from the ship at some stands and then you would have to walk very far to get back, but thankfully the guide spared us this. If they try to drop you off at the flea market say that you cannot walk and insist they take you back to the gangway. It is roughly 6 blocks distance if I had to guess.

No one on this tour was happy, after you see 5 minutes of the jungle/banana plants you have seen it all.

I spoke with folks who did the Sloth Sanctuary tour which includes a ride on the boat canal and they all loved it so I would say go with that.