Celebrity Cruises
Constellation Cruise Review
Southern Caribbean

Adam
(Keep my age in mind when you read this review.)

I recently cruised with my family (no tiny-tots). We expected a fantastic ship, excellent food and service and a relaxing week. This review will show that we batted .333 for the week.

The ship was okay. It was laid out very poorly, in my opinion. Many of the "bars" flowed right into main areas of the ship, which didn't give them a separate/private feel. The casino had almost no seating for anyone not gambling. We cruised on Carnival (had several separated bars/restaurants and you could hang out in the casino and enjoy watching, talking, drinking and smoking.... while some in your party gambled or while you took a break. SO much better.

The pool area was very nice on Celebrity, especially the padded deck chairs. The pool itself was pretty basic without much style to it. The 'Caribbean band' was fine, but not great. The ship did have an enclosed Aqua Spa with a pool/hot tub, complete with fountains and massaging jets. That was nice to get out of the sun and still be "outside."

The food was disgraceful for a "Luxury Ship." The food we had on Carnival was equal, and we paid $1,000 less per person. I think Celebrity really needs to look at the quality of their food and make some changes. We had some first-time cruisers with us and their comments were: "Nothing (food) blew me away. It was all good, but nothing was great." I agree.

The room service food was average.

The sushi bar was fantastic. It is open from 6pm - 10pm every night and is absolutely fantastic. We even skipped a main seating, in favor of the sushi bar. Kudos to Celebrity on the sushi bar.

The service on the boat was also disappointing. You expect, on Celebrity, for staff to be attending to your every need. When I cruised with Celebrity in 99 (Century), they offered to take my food tray to my table, fetch me water while in the buffet area, etc. Not once, did either happen on Constellation. Also, when in line for the pool food bar (burgers, sausages, fries, etc), someone asked the servers what one of the items was or what was in it (it was some sort of sausage/hot dog looking thing), he didn't know and the person simply said "forget it, give me a hamburger." That is not what $2,300 a person should be paying for, in my opinion.

Our room steward was exceptional. He attended to every need and I couldn't have been happier.

Despite my disappointment, we did have a nice time and a relaxing week.

In the end, here's my advice to cruisers: If you're looking to have a bit of fun (drink, dance, meet people, sing karaoke, etc), this isn't the ship for you. If you are looking for a luxury liner where you feel 'taken care of,' this is not the ship for you. In fact, I wouldn't cruise on Constellation... unless they charged me in the neighborhood of $1,000 for a balcony room on the 8th floor, as it was, we paid $2,300.

We really enjoyed our cruise on Carnival much better... better ship layout, food was what was expected, lower cost and much more fun.