Quality of Food and Entertainment on the Constellation-Scandinavian/Russia?

[Live the good life]

Our family of 3 (mid-forties and a teen-age daughter) have booked a cc aft cabin on the Constellation-Dover round trip for the Summer of 2005...We thoroughly enjoyed the ambience and music (Spanish/Latin guitar, piano, harp, orchestra at the Milano cafe) on our recent Celebrity Millenium Barcelona-Venice...

For those of you have have sailed this route, please provide us input on the quality and type of entertainment...In addition to touring the ports, we would also like to enjoy the ship...Was there live music in the main dining room? Any Latin music on one of the lounges? How about piano music? Any comedy shows? What times were the shows on every night?

Also, any recommendations on dining? Would Early sitting work after a full day of tour at the ports (so that one would not miss the shows in the theater)? Were the food court open all day? Was there a sushi place like on the Millie? Where can one get food after 10:00 p.m. besides room service? And lastly, which nights were formal nights?

Any other tips and/or "not to be missed" things to do would be greatly appreciated...

Kim-LTGL

[Live the good life]

Bump...

[marvin]

We did this cruise July31-Aug14 this year. We had cabin 9201 and except for some noise (not excessive) from the Seaside Grill on deck 10 it was great. The entertainment you had aboard the Millenium will be duplicated aboard the Constellation. The string quartet will play in the dining room during dinner. We have cruised on all 4 of the MIllenium class ships and all are pretty much the same as to entertainment,food and service. Main dining shows are either 8:45PM or 9:00PM, Late dining on sea days the shows will be at 7:00PM and Port days at 10:45PM or 11:00PM. We had early seating and had no problems with eating or seeing the shows after a full day of sight seeing. The one recommendation that I would make; In St Petersburg we rented a car for half a day both days to do the tours such as the Heritage,various Palaces etc: This way we had the personal attention of a guide instead of being on a bus with 50 people trying to hear their guide. The rest of the ports shuttles were provided to the main part of town where you could do your own thing. Best and cheapest shopping. In Helsinki, Stockmans Dept. store. They have everything and all sales people speak English. Enjoy the trip, it was outstanding. Marvin

[msiowa]

Live the Good Life

 

My info is a year old (August 2003), but here's my thoughts:

 

There was live music in the dining room - I don't remember if it was every night but certainly on formal nights.

 

I don't remember if there was Latin music in any of the lounges. We tend not to hang in the lounges very much. (We spent our post-show evenings in the Cova Cafe.)

 

There was piano music in Michael's Club. It was very nice.

 

There are comedy shows.

 

We had early dining. We didn't have any problems with ports (we left most ports at 4 or 5). The shows started after we were done with dinner so we were able to attend all shows, if we wanted.

 

The food court was open most of the day. It seems there was a small gap between breakfast and lunch and then between lunch and tea time (love those tea time sandwiches and cookies.)

 

Sushi was from 6 until 10. (Not great for early dining but one night when we didn't want to go to the dining room, we pigged out on sushi!)

 

They had pizza until far after I went to bed (around midnight) up in the buffet. They also had a few midnight buffets and on the other nights - passed treats (they have some cute name for them but I forget). I can't imagine ever being hungry on this ship.

 

This is an incredible cruise. I'd do it again in a minute.

 

Enjoy.

Joanie

[Bruinboy]

We did that cruise in May of 2003. It was wonderful. We did early seating and had no problems with the excursions. We enjoyed every port but especially St. Pete, Tallin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Rostock.

 

As for entertainment, typical cruise entertainment, and a mix of comedy, music, dancing etc. I do not recall any entertainers in the main dining area other than piano. I would have remembered Spanish guitarists. An acapella group was a real hit for many in the lounge areas

 

If you liked the Millie you will like the Constellation as it's a little newer. If you had it on the Millie you will probably have it on the Constellation. We are doing just the opposite in November. After being on the Constellation we will try the Millie for a transatlantic.

[heywood]

Marvin,

How was the weather? Coming from England, we are used to our summers which can be variable to say the least! I was wondering, if there is an entirely different approach to life onboard on sea days please? Or were the beds booked up just as early as other cruises?

[marvin]

Heywood: With regards to the weather: They say that in the Baltic's they have 60 sunny days a year. We were lucky to have 12 of them. We only had 2 cloudy including one day of showeres, and both were sea days. The sea's were calm except for the last sea day between Denmark and Dover when the wind came up and some people were shall we say uncomfortable. Marvin

[aqua]

We were on the June 16-July 3 Constellation sailing and the weather was very wet. We had downpours in Copenhagen and St. Petersburg, and only a few days of sunshine. However, with dollar store ponchos we did fine. We had late seating dinner and were glad that we did. We like to tour ports on our own when possible, and we would not have been back for early seating dinner on several nights. The entertainment was fine. We loved the pianist (I think his name is Brooks Arhen) and a famous pick pocket (Bob??? he is on 20/20 sometimes) but weren't crazy about the other entertainers. The Celebrity singers and dancers were okay, but we have seen better on other cruise lines. They did have 2 wonderful gymnasts who guest-starred with them. The sushi bar was open every evening at 6, so that was our appetizer before dinner. This was our 10th cruise, and I think the Constellation is a wonderful ship overall.

[jezzdogg]

For next year the entertainment will be a little different then this year, because sometime this winter, they will be bring Cirque de Soleil on board both the Constellation and Summit. From what I understand, there will be a masquarade ball, and show in Cosmos, which is being redone for this and a mainshow in the theatre of some sort.

[Live the good life]

Jezzdogg Norma, welcome back from your Med trip...I'm sure you had a memorable time...We would not mind going to the Med by cruise or flight every few years or so...Great to know about cirque du soleil stuff...

Thank you marvin (I had a few friends who used to work at Camarillo state hospital); msiowa (glad to know there are others also pigging out on sushi); Bruinboy (I was a Bruin too...too bad there were no Spanish guitarist on board like the one on the Millie aft deck lounge), and aqua (we have lots of pharmacists in our family too) for your input. Sounds like the Constellation cruisers are well-travelled and interesting people, and really enjoy the Baltic experience!!! We are beginning to get excited about this trip...

 

A few more questions for anybody who has been Constellation-Baltic cruisers:

How many sunny days did you have on your cruise, and were there people and live music by the pool? How about live guitar music at the aft lounge (near the sushi area) at sailaway times and during dinner?

Thanks-Kim-LTGL

[msiowa]

Kim: Last August we had fabulous weather. Sunny and warm everyday except our last sea day when we hit some rain, but we sat out on deck (under the overhang) anyway.

 

The other sea days (we had 4) there were lots of people out by the pool. We had some live, and some recorded, music most of the day. Around 2pm we had Chocolate Mousse on Parade. For some reason, it made me giggle. (and the mousse was good!)

 

There was live guitar music on the aft deck (behind the buffet, and for my money, the best place to hang out on ship) in the late afternoons and at other times as well.

 

Enjoy this cruise!!

Joanie

[Queen of Adventure]

We are also booked for the summer of 2005, and this is one of the ships that has a contract with Cirque Du Soleil so I am anticipating outstanding ship entertainment;)

Ahnalira

[joramrose]

I was on board at the same time as Aqua (see above), and we had lots of rain and overcast days. We also had some sun, but not as much as we would have liked. This was the last two weeks of June of this year.

 

There was not a lot of activity around the pool on most days. ?For one thing, it was cool. For another, we had only two sea days and we kept busy going ashore.

 

The entertainment was OK. There was a concert pianist who was wondeful, and a couple of Russian aerialists who were breathtaking. Most was about ewhat you expect for shipboard shows.

 

There was live music in several venues during the day and evening-- take your choice.

 

Food was OK. There was a lot of it, and a lot of choices. Even the pickiest eater should not go hungry! When I am out junketing as much as we did on this cruise, I tend to eat lightly so I am not the one to ask about food quality. I got my fresh fruit and salads.

 

 

love

joan