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any interest in a "review" of recent Connie TA?

catmand

By catmand,
in Celebrity Cruises

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catmand

catmand

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Admittedly, haven't been around much lately but am writing a "review" (more like an adventure) for friends, of the recent Europe trip and Connie TA began the 12th of last month.

Don't hold back! Be brutal, be honest. Do you folks think you may enjoy reading this thing? It's in segments and still a work in progress.

Chuck

PS: we thought the food was pretty darn good.

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catmand

catmand

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Cathy.....if it's just you and me:

Celebrity Constellation September 15th-27th 2007

This was our fifth celebrity cruise, eighth overall, and first transatlantic.

 

We departed San Francisco on the 4PM direct to London British Air flight. We were able to upgrade our seats to what is called World Traveler Plus. The B.A. web site makes this upgrade seem like a "must do"; of course the pictures never show more than one row of seats. Once seated, we did have some extra legroom but I honestly think the coach seats on Jet Blue have the same, or even a few more inches. The seat configuration in coach is 3-4-3 and in "Plus" it’s 2-4-2 with just 5 rows in the curtained off area. So, it was quieter I’m sure, but we were in the 4 row so IF you ever do this, make sure you get the "2 on the isle."

We arrived in London at 11AM local time while our bodies were still at 3AM West Coast time. We took a suggestion and picked up some "No Jet Lag" at our local health food store. We’ve nothing to compare as we have never traveled this distance but we did feel great upon landing, so as my Grandma Sophia used to say, "what could it hurt?" The only issue we had was being a little off at mealtime which was a good thing considering the prices in London.

 

We breezed through Heathrow, we're through customs with bags in hand in around 30 minutes and found no line at the taxi que. We grabbed a cab and had around a 30 minute ride into London, Kensington. The traffic everywhere is horrible there is no way I would ever attempt to drive there, even if they drove on the other side of the road. We were at the Kensington Hilton, we checked in, dropped the bags and headed out around one. The hotel is in a very nice mostly residential area with an underground station about a mile or so down the road. Lots of small business' and shops along Holland Ave. with homes on either street behind. We found a place where we could eat outside and grabbed some burgers and watched the London world go by. Around four we returned to the hotel, grabbed a nap for an hour and then took off again. Did lots of walking and had some Chinese food that evening.

 

Did I mention London was expensive? That first night we had a bowl of soup, sweet and sour prawns and steamed white rice. The bill was just under Forty US dollars. Actually things didn't seem too bad, like a Latte at one of the many Starbucks was the same as here but in POUNDS. Currently there is just about two US dollars to a pound so you have to double everything, $7 for my latte'.

 

Friday which was our full day in London we went out around 9 and grabbed a HOHO bus directly across from the hotel. We did the entire circuit and were able to see all of the "hot" spots. After several hours on the bus we stopped near Victoria Station, checked out the pay toilets, went to a Starbucks and hung around people watching. When we finally finished the HOHO bus tour and got off we decided to walk back to the hotel. I guess it was around 4 or so miles but a beautiful walk with both Hyde and Kensington parks bordering one side of the avenue. Oh, we also walked by four Starbucks on the way. The day flew by and by 8 or so we were getting ready to leave for Dover in the morning.

 

Granted, room service is always more expensive at a hotel but I thought you all would get a bang out of this. I also think this is so appropriate for anyone that complains about the food quality on the ship. First you have to visualize calling room service or filling out the door card when on the ship. OK, so now someone knocks on your cabin door and has your order, what is the COST?

 

Now, picture yourself back in the Hilton in London, you put your door card out before you retire for the evening, you checked Fried eggs, orange juice, grapefruit segments, croissant and coffee for two. What would this cost? 21.45 pounds or approximately $42.00.

 

.....and by the way, if you have a room package including breakfast they only charge six pounds for delivery.

As I wrote, this was our fifth Celebrity cruise. I can’t say which one was "the best" as we have been more than satisfied with all of them. Prior to discovering the joy of cruising we did a lot of travel in and around the great state of California. A favorite of ours was three or four days on the northern coast, maybe a long weekend in Carmel, or a train trip up to Portland or even Denver. When we compare the cabin, food, entertainment, service, and company along with an ocean to enjoy; well, there is no comparison.

 

We all know that just about everything on and about a cruise is subjective. Heck, even the cleanliness of the cabin is; after all, who knows what kind of housekeepers we are? Having said that, we were more than happy with the meals offered. Between the many entrées and the "always" menu, and the suggestions from our waiter we always left the dinner table satisfied.

 

There is one area that WE would love to see improved on the Celebrity ships. The in-room entertainment and the theater type movies. We don’t spend a ton of time in our cabin but late in the evenings, or late afternoons and just relaxing before dinner it would be nice to turn on the TV and see SOMETHING that wasn’t older than dirt. The movies shown were exactly the same ones shown when we were on Infinity four months ago and they were old THEN. Actually, ALL the programming (except news) was the same as four months ago.

 

Some of the movies shown in the "theater" were "Match Point" "The Queen" "King Kong" "Firewall" "Pink Panther" "The Matador" and others of the same vintage. I don’t think any of these are under a year old. The in room selection was even worse.

later....on to Dover

........to be continued, and if you have any questions, fire away

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negc

negc

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The only way folks can get a full picture of any cruise or ship is to have as many different perspectives as possible, so your insights will help others who may be considering a cruise on this ship or may want more information regarding transatlantic cruises.. I've posted my review and look forward to reading yours.

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catmand

catmand

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BillP1.....actually we booked the Hilton with a small group (thanks Bob) last year, paid in advance and got one heck of a deal. Also, we loved the location as we are not real "city" people. As I mentioned, lots of parks and great people watching. Hopefully when I get some pictures posted that beautiful area can be seen.

negc.....thanks, at times I feel redundant and I just saw UK Phil's thread.

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sealover155

sealover155

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If it makes you feel any better, we were at the Westin Europa Regina in Venice a few years ago for Christmas with our family. We stayed there most rooms on starpoints, so, no breakfast included. It was.....are you sitting down, $49Euro per person. EEEEKS. I'm sure someone can top this, but 5 (people in our party) times $49Euro per day, 6 days, ouch. We made other plans most mornings.

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catmand

catmand

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Good Morning and hello, it's Saturday and we have been home a week. I've GOT to start sorting the pictures so you guys can see some things too. Thank goodness for future cruise bookings.

Gail.....no it was not us!.....:D we (Wanda) decided because of all the travel we would pack light and have them do laundry. We had one medieum bag each (what are those, 28 inch bags?) a rolling garment bag and one carry on and my camera bag. Wanda also bought one of those messenger bags and had that instead of a purse, it was great. We were also well under the 50# bag limit on all.

By the way, the cost of Celebrity laundry? $95.25, and actually we thought well wort it. We used the Captain's Club coupons for that 20 buck "stuff a bag till the seams split." deal.

A couple other random thoughts before I move on to shore days. I'd read lots about small hotel rooms and no lifts etc. in London. Our hoitel had several large lifts AND they were larger than the rooms. If you were unable to get all of your luggage and yourselves onto an elevator, either you OR your luggage was going to sleep on your room floor. Seriously, the room was really small, like ship cabin plus balcony small and there was very little storage but it was clean and the bed comfy. Oh, and no coffee maker but a hot water thingy and really good instant coffee.

And.....this was the fourth cruise we had linked up with others for dining room seating, so far we are zero for four. It's no big deal as they have always fixed the problems by night two. My suggestion though is this: IF you are sitting with others check your dining room cards as soon as you board, check with the other folks and if there is a problem go see the matier' d then.

On to Dover:

We arrived at the Dover port via private bus, arranged by Bob, one of the "gang". How nice it was, just walk out of the hotel in the morning and get on the bus. It seemed as soon as we all saw the ship and gathered our luggage we lost all focus and purpose, everyone seemed to scatter. The only thing we had on our minds was the Constellation and how soon we could be on that beautiful ship, we didn’t have a long wait.

I would guess we were onboard and in our cabin #7175 in less than twenty minutes. After a quick look around we walked out on the balcony and saw what we had missed coming in, the white cliffs of Dover. It was easy to see how they came by the name; the land and seascape were gorgeous, as you will see when viewing the photos. We dropped the carry on bags and went out to the first order of business, pizza. Pretty sure the pizza man forgot to set the timer as those first few were burnt to a crisp, oh well, BURGERS! And fries, and ice cream and a lifeboat drill at 4:15.

 

After the mandatory lifeboat drill we dropped the vests and hit Deck 10 aft. The CC roll call had over two hundred fifty people post and a whole bunch of them were on that deck. Lots of blue "setting sun" shirts white and black Owl shirts and many, many, different glasses all filled with liquid. Sail a way was five and by six the crowd had thinned, many having early dining. We were officially on our way to Le Havre, France: one hundred thirty three nautical miles away.

This was night one dinner. Tonight our "large" table shrink down to a four top and we sat with co workers Wanda sees every day..:eek: We were right next to the serving station and had an ass't waiter lady, this was her very first night, EVER working on a cruise ship. The food was ok, we figured maybe we would move around the next day.

We were really beat by the time we finished dinner, like 10:30 and so we didn't do any shows etc.

 

When we went to bed Saturday night we set the clocks forward one-hour. I guess France and England do not agree on much. We were in port at 7 and lots of people had been up, had breakfast and were ready to go. La Havre is a commercial port; a rather industrial type city and pretty well shut down, this being Sunday. However, this is the port stop for Paris, a couple of hours away and we were here until eleven tonight.

 

Wanda and I wanted to see the Normandy coast and the countryside. Around 9 we decided to walk into town (bypassing the Celebrity "bus to town", $16.00 each) and catch a train to Rouen. We really did TRY to find the train station. Between advice from fellow passengers, trying to read a map, and our lousy French I guess we only walked four miles out of our way. I tried to make to best of this although Wanda reminded me it looked like we were in west Oakland (don’t ask). We finally found the station, managed to get change for the pay toilet and found out the next train out was at 1330 that’s 1:30pm for us Americans. We did not want to hang out for two hours so chalked it up to a bad day and started back to the ship. I now understand the stories about the rude Americans and how we are disliked in places. I’m a pretty laid back guy but I found myself getting angry because "no one spoke ENGLISH!" and I was getting frustrated. That lasted about two minutes, why the heck should THEY accommodate me?

 

On the way back we tried to rationalize our situation. We didn’t make plans, it was Sunday, there was dog poop on the sidewalk, La Havre really was a nice, fun, interesting place. Here we were, in France, and we were dodging dog poop and making up lies, and on we walked.

 

Our first day and we crapped (almost literally) out. We had already shown our sea pass to security and were through the gate, almost on the gangway when I spotted a visitor center. Honestly it WAS NOT there when we left several hours before. I bet a bunch of little men with hammers and saws built that thing while we were running around town. What the heck, it was worth a visit.

 

Wow, we bought some bottled water and spotted a sign with several listings. We discovered we could take a taxicab to Honfleur a charming coastal town. The driver took us, waited there two hours and drove us back for a set fee. The cab was a brand new Peugeot, the driver French and the ride, fast. The funny thing was when we arrived he gave me his cell phone number. In his poor English and my bad French we realized we should call him if we had "any problems." How the hell we would have communicated over the phone is still a mystery?

 

http://www.grape-nutz.com/travel/euro05/honfleur1.html

 

Take a minute a look at this web site. We loved this place, We talked about spending a week at one of the small hotels, waking in the morning and walking downstairs for fresh rolls and coffee. We were so happy we went into that visitor center, there was no issue with the time or price. Heck, we even told them we didn’t have many Euros and needed to go to an ATM while in town.

 

We returned to the ship around four or so. It was pretty empty, as so many folks had gone into Paris. The dining room was open seating that night but I think we had sushi and some pasta. We eventually got ready for Monday, which was the port of Falmouth/Cornwall, England that was two hundred eleven nautical miles away. Oh, we set our clocks BACK an hour, leaving France for England.

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catmand

catmand

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You asked for it! Really, I have to admit this is kind of fun., the next one will be available at Amazon dot com, only $19.95, if you use the password "LaFong" you get two bucks off.

It matters not where I am, what I’m doing, or what time I go to bed. I wake up around 5am and I want food! If I had a wish and could make a change, the "Early Risers" whatever at the buffet would be 24 hours. Maybe they could call it "The we never sleep and know some of you don’t either twenty-four hour feed bag" or something equally catchy? Now that I think about it I guess sometime during the past forty-seven days at sea with Celebrity I could have checked the room service menu but I didn’t. Oh well, I have something to look forward to next April.

So, the Seaside Café "Early Risers" whatever is located starboard and consists of sweet rolls, croissants (which by the way are nothing more than biscuits with attitudes) and coffee, tea, hot (or cold) chocolate and the always available punch, lemonade, and ice tea. While this is nice, a little butter to go with that biscuit and some jam or jelly would really be super.

And, speaking of coffee, after this cruise my home brew tasted so much better. I’ve heard the dining room, Cova, and/or room service coffee is pretty good or at least good, not by me. A little hint: get a Splenda, two creamers, and a package of hot chocolate (or cold) powder. Put all of this in a large cup and now fill with coffee, stir well. OK, you have a mocha mocachito deluxe. P.S. why do I forget to bring the mugs that I now have five of? Please, Celebrity, we drink coffee and need mugs, not 4oz little cups.

Falmouth/Cornwall is a tender port (it was also pretty nice) and we were anchored around 9:30am. UK Phil arranged a bus that we were supposed to meet dockside at 10. I just hate being late, was concerned as most of the group had priority tender tickets. Don’t get mad, I know we kind of cheated but I figured we had them and didn’t use them on our last cruise. I was so concerned I called four or five people and asked if they could get a couple extra tickets, we now had around twenty. We went downstairs before the first tender left and were shunted aside for a tour. No one had a problem or an issue with this but it was truly the very first time I’ve experienced a truly rude staff member. I wish I could remember this guys name, he was tall, around 6 foot with short sandy hair, oh, and rude. Maybe Sam? He told us to "wait over there, these people have a higher priority than you!" Hey, he was also rude when we had to line up in Halifax. Maybe he just had a superiority complex? We finally were allowed to board the tender and off we went.

The tender ride wasn’t bad but it did start raining on the way. The town owned the vessel and had a large enclosed area so some folks stayed dry, others (me) got wet. We arrived in port; very, very friendly people, shown the portable "washrooms" and also the bus meet us. About half the group got on the bus and we sat, and sat, and sat. I’m not sure why but there was almost an hour before the next tender arrived and we went on our way.

The roads are just about wide enough for a car and a half. While driving and meeting a vehicle coming the other way, someone has to yield. We were in a bus so usually had the right of way. We had a beautiful ride out to Lizard, which is just about the southwestern most point of England. This was a charming area with some eatery’s, gift shops and other quaint places of interest. We walked a short distance and saw Lands End, which reminded us of the Big Sur area of California. There were lots of dairy cows around which may account for the methane gas and the various fudge shops. I still hadn’t had my fish and chips but time was a problem. One of the highlights was a quick stop into a family owned and operated (and the best for miles) Cornish Pasty Shop. I’m sure every ethnic group has some foodstuff they think is delicious. I am Jewish, kinish’s come to mind, Polish, maybe perogies? Filipino, empanadas. Some of these things are actually GOOD. I have to admit I confused Pasty with paste-ty (think burlesque) and bet the latter may have been better (with nice hot mustard).

Cornish Pasty http://kenanderson.net/pasties/cornish.html I’m pretty sure it’s the turnip or that delicious swede (?) that makes these so yummy.

Quickly running out of time we drove a nice route back and saw our first thatched roof home. This countryside was beautiful full of magnificent stone homes. It was easy to imagine sitting by the fireplace, smoking a pipe and reading a good book on a misty winters evening. A dog at your feet, the wife in the kitchen, tending a large pot of stew. Now, back to reality, we passed a couple of nice sandy beaches and a few hotels before getting back to the dock. This was a really nice day, an experience we will never forget.

The last tender was scheduled at three with departure for Dublin at three-thirty. I should mention here what some of you have already read, a color OR any copy of your passport is worth squat. There were many reminders to be sure and carry your passport off the ship with you. This is something we all better get used to. There were a couple of times when we were asked for them going to or from the ship.

Upon our return to the ship several of the group went to Phil’s cabin for a "sail a way excuse to drink more wine and eat again." He had one of those very cool aft end cabins with the extra long "you can see the stars at night" balcony’s. It was supposed to be a sail a way party but we didn’t sail a way.

We didn’t need to hurry back to the ship. There were a couple of accidents and tour busses got stuck behind them. We didn’t push out until around five or so. At the time we weren’t sure why we were so late and really didn’t care as Phil had all that food and wine. That night at the Captain’s Gala Toast & Introductions in the theater the Captain told and thanked us for "our patience."

Most afternoons Wanda and I hit the grill and split a cheeseburger and fries. We love this place and never found it crowded, ever. I honestly don’t think we were ever in line with more than three people. In addition to burgers the grill does hot dogs, turkey burgers, sausage, tacos and more. It’s open from noon until seven. We were going there or waiting until five and getting sushi. A California couple on their fifth X cruise and we finally ate sushi. Shrimp salmon and such. If you throw away the rice and never ever, ever, ever eat the green stuff it’s pretty good.

This was night three of the dinner merry go round. Our tablemates called and told us they ran into a great waiter from a past cruise that happened to have an empty table upstairs at the railing. We looked down on friends; it was perfect for dropping rolls and butter pats so we took it. We called two other couples who moved with us so we were now a table of eight. This is a very good size for conversations, one that we always request. Our waiter Aleksander (but you can call me Alex) and his assistant were pretty darn good, Alex always had suggestions and was usually right on. As always, the staff seems to take it personally if you don’t care for something or just order a small amount. I mentioned I like escargot (anything swimming in butter and garlic is good) so of course got it every night. I should have learned my lesson on the first cruise when Wanda said she really "liked crème brulle" and we had that stuff hidden all over our cabin. Anyhow, this was going to be great, we were finally settled.

That evening we wandered out of the dining room around 10:45 and went to the Celebrity Theater. In addition to the Captain’s toast we saw The Maverick Magician Jamie Allen. I hate magicians because I can never figure out how they do that stuff. I’ve even seen The Illusionist and The Prestige several times recently. This guy was good and I left bewildered as usual.

Man, it was a long day; we turned in ready for the morning in Dublin, two hundred sixty seven nautical miles away.

thanks, Chuck

 

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