Live From Celebrity Constellation 3/11-3/23

[jam19872016]

Hello everyone!

 

It's that time again, time to set sail on another cruise adventure. Monday I will be boarding Celebrity Constellation for a 12 Night Ultimate Caribbean & The Americas cruise. Although I usually sail solo, I am excited to be bringing my mom along for the ride on this one. She was quite wore out from our last adventure so originally she was not going to do this one with me, but after a couple months she told me she was going stir crazy and was ready to sail again, so she will now be joining me as I jaunt around some less frequented ports, and a couple new ones!

 

The itinerary is as follows:

 

Day 1: Tampa
Day 2: Sea Day
Day 3: Grand Cayman
Day 4: Sea Day
Day 5: Cartagena (overnight)
Day 6: Cartagena
Day 7: Colon, Panama
Day 8: Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
Day 9: Sea Day
Day 10: Sea Day
Day 11: Cozumel
Day 12: Sea Day

 

I'm 36 and live less than two hours away from the big three ports in Florida. I also live pretty close to Tampa but until now, I have never sailed from that port. I'm a little apprehensive about that, just because I have never done it before, but this was a great itinerary so I decided to make the trek.
 

[jam19872016]

I don't have any formal plans in any of the ports. Grand Cayman will depend on what my mother wants to do. The tender process is not something I am interested in, so unless she wants to go out, I will probably stay on the ship. Her biggest interest is shopping, and she struck out there as she is a bargain shopper, and as GC is quite wealthy, there are no bargains to be had.

 

Cartagena was a fun port for both my mom and I the last time we were there. She found a lot of great souvenirs right at the port, and we both enjoyed the bird aviary (more like a zoo really) right there at the port. I am looking forward to checking that out again. I doubt either of us will venture out of the port area as I have not heard great things about the actual city with regards to aggressive vendors.

 

The next two ports of Colon and Puerto Limon are both new to both of us. Again, the poverty that plagues these ports have left both as less than attractive options for a DIY day around town, so we will likely stick to the immediate port area. I would be interested in taking a tour of the Panama Canal but I doubt I will be able to afford that as I have certainly been pushing my budget to the limit recently! I have done a full transit of the Canal so I have at least experienced it, but it was such an amazing thing to witness I would love to do it again and the perspective of doing a small tour VS. a cruise ship would make it unique. TBD, but probably won't be able to make it happen.

 

Costa Rica I am hoping turns out to be lovely. I visited Puntarenas on my Panama Canal cruise and it was such a charming little town to visit. The locals even put on a parade for us and the President of Costa Rica visited the ship. It was such a welcoming town and not at all like Puerto Limon is being made out to be in reviews I've read, so I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised here. Puntarenas was also a good port for shopping for my mother, and she bought me a shirt designed by a local that I absolutely love and bring with me on every cruise.

 

Cozumel will probably be a quick walk around the port for my mom's shopping, some photo ops since Royal's pier is situated such that you can get some great photos, and then back onto the ship. I may do a little walk around town depending on how motivated I am feeling.

 

Onboard I won't have a drink package, but will have my mobile bar and daily free happy hour drinks for being elite (thanks to status match with Royal Caribbean). I will also be carrying on not one, but two bottles of champagne (or sparkling wine for the purist) since I will not be solo and my mom can bring one on as well. 

 

Nothing else really planned, we will dine in the MDR and Ocean View Cafe with some Al Bacio snacks thrown in, no plans for specialty. After my last cruise, I am certainly looking forward to a little less eating if you can believe that. No doubt, I will still be doing lots of eating though 🙂

 

 

Here is a link to my last review and my last Celebrity review. If you enjoyed either of those, I hope you will come along with me as I set sail on the mighty Celebrity Constellation!

 

 

 

 

 

[kiwichick62]

Your live reporting is fantastic and fun to follow thanks.  Looking forward to your reports for this cruise.  Have a great time.

[jam19872016]

14 minutes ago, kiwichick62 said:

Your live reporting is fantastic and fun to follow thanks.  Looking forward to your reports for this cruise.  Have a great time.

Thank you! Glad to have you along for the ride 🙂

 

[Jim_Iain]

Definitely will be following along.   Have very much enjoyed your previous Live posts. 

[colesc15]

Never sailed celebrity but will be following along 😊

[jam19872016]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Definitely will be following along.   Have very much enjoyed your previous Live posts. 

Thanks! That is high praise indeed coming from you! Always enjoyed your lives so thrilled to have you along for the ride!

 

3 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

Never sailed celebrity but will be following along 😊

They have done a lot to revamp their casino program in the last year or so. Pretty much copying the successful casino royale program. In the end I could only choose one line to maintain casino status on and Royal has better loyalty perks and a bigger variety of ships to choose from so I went with them. 

 

If you do ever give them a try, they do status match up to elite which is fantastic.

 

Thanks for following along again!

[bluewater1298]

I'm so excited! I love following along! I've been looking at a few cruises out of Tampa, so this will be good to see their port. Hope you and your mom have a great trip. Thanks for taking us with you!

[parrothead33]

Looking forward to following along!

[#55worktoplay]

Looking forward to following you virtually!

 

Enjoy!

[rwest898]

Thank you for the link! Looking forward to your review. 

[jam19872016]

1 hour ago, bluewater1298 said:

I'm so excited! I love following along! I've been looking at a few cruises out of Tampa, so this will be good to see their port. Hope you and your mom have a great trip. Thanks for taking us with you!

I'll admit Tampa has never really been on my radar. As I prefer newer ships typically and Tampa has size restrictions, I haven't really given much consideration to it. I am kind of winging it and hoping for the best. Driving in morning of (about 3 hours give or take according to Uncle Google) and parking at the port. Not terribly expensive for pork parking, looks to be about $15 a day. Since I am already coming from so far away I want to avoid the extra time a shuttle will take, but I am sure there are cheaper options out there.

 

I am looking forward to sailing under the bridge though! I think we will likely be at dinner as my mom enjoys an earlier dinner. So do I, but I would rather see us sail under the bridge.

 

Any questions you have about the Tampa experience, ask away as I am not really sure what to look out for since I am flying by the seat of my pants here 😂

1 hour ago, parrothead33 said:

Looking forward to following along!

Thanks for following along 🙂

 

[jam19872016]

50 minutes ago, #55worktoplay said:

Looking forward to following you virtually!

 

Enjoy!

 

35 minutes ago, rwest898 said:

Thank you for the link! Looking forward to your review. 

Thank you both for following along! Glad to have you come aboard.

 

[jam19872016]

I'm mostly packed. A couple last minute items to pack. I am doing carry on only again which sounds crazy for 12 nights, but I will have a free bag of laundry so I have only packed for seven days. I will also use some space in my Mom's bag. She is bringing an oversized bag and has said she has plenty of extra room in it. She is likely to pick up many souvenirs, but she is also taking a number of books with her that she will donate to the ship library. So should have room on the return trip as well.

 

I really hope my fan passes the security screening at the port. Carnival had a problem with Tampa basically saying we don't care that you allow fans onboard, we are confiscating them anyway. It took the big wigs at Carnival, after receiving many complaints from upset passengers, stepping in and having a meeting with the head of port security and insisting they follow what Carnival allows for Tampa to allow them onboard. 

 

Since Celebrity has no specific policy on the matter, will the over zealous Tampa security team allow it? I may call Celebrity for clarification. I once had my fan confiscated by port security in Ft. Lauderdale. The ship personal would do nothing for me but I mentioned I called Celebrity ahead of time (this was my first Celebrity cruise and I was unsure of the policy) and was told it was allowed. The front desk actually took the time to locate the recording of that call and saw that I was correct and sent someone to retrieve it from port personal. I was very impressed with that level of service. Maybe that can be an ace in the hole if it comes to that again, though I am not sure I can count on reception being that service oriented again.

 

I think I am mostly ready. I've completed check in. Parking is at the port, I see I can prepay online so I may do that, but I don't think I have to. I need to check my mom in, but I will do that when I see her.

 

Work schedule is not great. I am off yesterday and today because I was needed the rest of the work week which ends on today. I had hoped to go ahead and be off next week and tieing it in with those two days to allow some extra time to visit my mom. I was not able to be accommodated so I asked to at least leave early on Saturday. Apparently 8pm is early 🙄

 

Looks like I will be on the road until 1130 that night to make it to my mom's house. With spring ahead that night, it will feel like 1230. Any thoughts of going a day early to Tampa are shot but I think it will be ok, I just need to be on the road very early Monday. I will be taking I75 instead of I4 so I feel better about traffic, but still nervous just because this is a new route for me. Again I will be leaving very early as I like to board ASAP, so if something should go wrong I will at least have a little cushion to still make the ship.

 

Fingers crossed it all works out 😬

[bluewater1298]

21 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

I'll admit Tampa has never really been on my radar. As I prefer newer ships typically and Tampa has size restrictions, I haven't really given much consideration to it. I am kind of winging it and hoping for the best. Driving in morning of (about 3 hours give or take according to Uncle Google) and parking at the port. Not terribly expensive for pork parking, looks to be about $15 a day. Since I am already coming from so far away I want to avoid the extra time a shuttle will take, but I am sure there are cheaper options out there.

 

I am looking forward to sailing under the bridge though! I think we will likely be at dinner as my mom enjoys an earlier dinner. So do I, but I would rather see us sail under the bridge.

 

Any questions you have about the Tampa experience, ask away as I am not really sure what to look out for since I am flying by the seat of my pants here 😂

Thanks for following along 🙂

 

Thanks! We usually add a week at the beach before we cruise and I prefer the Gulf side. Especially in Clearwater area. So I thought a cruise out of Tampa might be nice. But I'm like you, I usually prefer the bigger newer ships so we haven't ever sailed out of Tampa. Hoping you have a good experience and change my thinking. 

[Reel Love]

Following.  Really enjoyed your last X review and I'm sure this one will be just as informative and entertaining. 🙂   Have a wonderful time!  

[princess76021]

I will be along for the ride! Thanks for inviting us!!

 

Hugs from Texas

[Rina155]

Following along!  I love these live reports, makes me feel as if I am traveling right along with everyone else!  Thanks!

[perfect match]

I’m here! I’m very interested to hear how you like sailing from Tampa. I keep saying we need to try it because I know DH would love sailing under that bridge  as would I. The catch is that we really like the big ships because we love everything they have to offer. I do like your itinerary so maybe if I can find that at a time that we are looking to sail we might make a Tampa cruise happen.
 

We did have one Tampa cruise on Brilliance planned. However, it was cancelled due to a full ship charter. We moved that one to Harmony out of PC which was cancelled due to the Covid shutdown. 
 

I have two words to say to you about how to make your Panama Canal excursion happen, and I know you can do it - casino winnings! 😂 You can do it! 

[happy cruzer]

Good luck with the fan.  I took one on for a RCL cruise that started in Tampa.  The cruise had delayed boarding due to fog so it was madness in the security area;  I'm not sure they were being as picky as usual.

 

Enjoy your reviews.  Thanks.

[Coralc]

The bridge is really pretty. 

[exlondoner]

How can a fan be a security risk? I can see they might want to check the electrics on board, but a security risk? I wonder how Tampa security would deal with Cunard’s ‘Bring as much booze on board as you like, so long as you don’t act drunk’ policy?

[colesc15]

What is this fan nonsense? We have our first ever Carnival cruise booked later this year. I've always brought a fan with on all our Royal sailings, are you saying carnival confiscates fans during boarding?? 

[exlondoner]

16 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

What is this fan nonsense? We have our first ever Carnival cruise booked later this year. I've always brought a fan with on all our Royal sailings, are you saying carnival confiscates fans during boarding?? 

I think he is talking about Celebrity (and specifically Tampa security) not Carnival.

[onyourmark]

We are on the next sailing - Transatlantic to Barcelona.  Following along with you will hopefully prepare us for a rewarding experience.