Celebrity Cruises
Constellation Cruise Review
Baltic

Mark and Dawn Murphy
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Number of Cruises: Unknown
Sailing Date: February 11th, 2006
 

Our vacation on the Celebrity Constellation was the best! We had booked this trip in October 2005. Our travel agent, Melissa, from American Express was wonderful! We highly suggest booking your trip with her (800-297-5627 x4318). This was my 4th cruise and my husband’s 3rd cruise. Our flight on Continental to San Juan, Puerto Rico was great! We took a taxi to the Pan American pier because we didn't have transportation to the ship, this took about 15 - 20 minutes. We were in awe to see the ship for the first time. What a spectacular view! Getting on the ship was no problem at all. There were minimal lines which moved very quickly. The whole embarkation process was extremely organized.

As soon as we boarded the ship, we were greeted with champagne and taken to our stateroom. A lunch buffet was awaiting us on the 10th floor deck. We had a midship cabin (#8098) with a balcony. What a clean and beautiful room! Melissa had suggested an 8th floor cabin which was insulated from the noise on the 10th floor (where the pool entertainment was). She definitely made the right decision. Our cabin was bright and well appointed with plenty of storage. The mattress was extremely comfortable. We were even able to leave the sliding door open when the air conditioning was on. The CC class extras were just as they stated and made all the difference (padded deck chairs, fresh fruit, appetizers at 5 PM daily, terrycloth bathrobes, fresh flowers and more were extra touches that we thoroughly enjoyed). The port views were great from the side of the ship we were on. We loved to sit on the balcony and watch us pull into the new ports each day. We also enjoyed the mail in the door slot each day telling us of daily activities. Our cabin steward, Caetano, was excellent! He attended to our every need.

The ship was immaculate! We enjoyed the layout of this ship much better than the Celebrity Galaxy. We also enjoyed the art throughout the ship. My husband enjoyed the Seaside Grill at the back of the ship. It was cigar friendly in the evenings. We enjoyed the internet café greatly, we loved to be able to communicate with our family and friends. The conservatory is beautiful and peaceful. I loved the jogging track on the 11th deck, I walked a few mornings and loved the views! The glass elevators were the best we ever experienced. They were super quiet and fast and the views were wonderful! We never felt like there were over 2,000 people on this ship.

The food on the ship was excellent. We loved the breakfast and lunch buffets in the Seaside Café. The aqua spa cuisine was unbelievable! We had the early seating in the dining room for dinner. The food was great! Our waiter, Marcin, and assistant waiter, Antonio, were great! James, our bar tender, always had a smile on his face! We didn’t get to try the Ocean Liners restaurant but we heard that the food is very good.

We did not do any of the excursions. We visited the Southern Caribbean. Our 1st stop was in the Dominican Republic. We took the free shuttle to the marina. We basically just walked around since it was a Sunday and everything was closed. Our next day we were at sea. Our 2nd stop was in Grenada. We walked off the ship into a poor village and got right back on the ship. Our 3rd stop was in Barbados. We took a taxi with 2 other women to a public beach and swam for a few hours. Our 4th stop was in St. Kitts. We took a taxi to a public beach and again swam for a few hours. Our last stop was in St. Thomas. We ended up taking a taxi to the Red Hook ferry which brought us to St. John. This was our favorite stop. We took an open taxi to Trunk Bay and I cannot tell you how unbelievable this beach is.

The pools on the ship were very nice. They never seemed overcrowded. There were lots of padded lounge chairs and towels for the guests. There were 4 freshwater whirlpools and my husband loved the whirlpools! Even on the sea day, the pools and whirlpools never seemed overcrowded.

The entertainment on the ship was top notch! Perry Grant (the lounge pianist) was great! Very entertaining! The violinists in the Cova Café were superb! The shows in the theater were great too!

We loved the entire experience for the week. The staff and itinerary made us feel special. It was relaxing, interesting and just the right feeling of being pampered. We loved Julie the librarian. Everyone was so helpful! On our day at sea, we were given a bridge tour (we had asked about this) and found it to be very enjoyable. The captain and his staff did a great job with explaining the behind the scenes experience especially with the state of the art engines that have almost 0 percent emissions. The ship also has a soda package, you pay $40 for the week for unlimited soda which was a great idea.

We think you would be hard pressed to find any criticisms with any aspect of your week on the Constellation. It was a great trip! We spoke to people on the Princess lines at some of the ports and found out they had many criticisms with their ships (ex: the Princess cruises weren’t given pool towels). Many small details on the Constellation contributed to a very good trip. I credit Celebrity and the Constellation staff for this. Our experience on this ship make it difficult for us to choose another ship or another cruise line in fear that it won’t be just as good.

On the last night of our trip, we placed our luggage in the hallway by midnight. We had received papers telling us about what to expect for debarkation in the morning and where we needed to gather. On our last morning, we got up early and left our cabin by 8:30 AM. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast and loved the view next to the window. We had to meet in an assigned public area (we were in the theater), this was based on flight times. They called the “grey” group (which was us) and then we disembarked the ship. Taxis were awaiting you as you leave the ship (but we had a transfer back to the airport). The whole process took very little time and was extremely organized!

We are looking forward to our next cruise in January 2007 which will be sailing in the Western Caribbean. We are very excited to be sailing on this wonderful ship once again!

 

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