Constellation March 7th 2015

Celebrity Constellation March 07, 2015

My wife and I are veterans to cruising from our very first cruise with Carnival in 1990 to our latest cruise with Celebrity last weekend.  Over the years as we aged and matured we moved up to Celebrity and this was our 3rd cruise with the line.  We sailed on the Reflection last December and booked 2 future cruises, one on the Silhouette in December of 2015 and another to be determined later in 2016.  We took a cruise in September of 2014 on the Norwegian Getaway in the Haven and decided to grow out Captains Club points with Celebrity. 

Unfortunately, my wife and I were among the unlucky guests on the Celebrity Constellation sailing from Port Everglades on March 07, 2015.  This cruise was a disaster from the moment we entered the ship, made our way through the decks and waited for our room to be ready in the Oceanview café.  We immediately got the feeling we were on a Carnival Cruise to nowhere.  As soon as we went to our stateroom, there were unruly college students on spring break lining the corridors, drinking and breaking all the dress code rules.  My wife and I started to unpack when we heard running, cursing and banging on walls outside our room.  My wife called guest services and noted that obviously, this was not going to be the cruise we had paid for and expected to enjoy aboard a Celebrity ship.  She asked if the manager could call us and provide us with a credit so we could leave the ship and book another cruise at a different time.  We did not feel this was an unreasonable request, we were not asking for a refund, only a credit for the future.  This is where the pattern of lip service and inaction began.  We were assured that the crew was trained to handle situations like this and there would be no problems on board.  We also complained because our room was far from clean, the desk was heavily stained, the balcony was not even cleaned from the previous guests, the bathroom was cleaned with a lick and a promise.  We were assured by Christina, the employee of the year, that all of our concerns would be addressed and resolved to our satisfaction.  Lip service and inaction was all we received.

The room was supposedly cleaned while we were walking around the ship witnessing a complete breakdown of standards and decorum.  We spoke with Bruna at guest services because after the room was cleaned we noticed someone had trimmed both their finger or toe nails and left the residue on the floor.  What I thought was interesting was the room was cleaned twice at this point and somehow they remained.  We were again assured our concerns would be addressed, we still had time to leave but were again told there would be no credit if we did.  Unbelievably, we returned to the room and only a couple of the nails were removed, the ones I specifically pointed out to the steward, there were several more under the desk but that would have required actually moving the desk chair to vacuum. The steward told us the desk was clean but it was heavily stained and in order to clean it, he would “have to use lots of chemicals and a heavy machine”, to which my wife said no thanks, we don’t want a smell in the room on top of everything else.  My wife did not feel good at this point from the stress so she laid down to try and distress.  Just then a knock at the door and a person with a small bucket arrived to clean the balcony.  I told him he would have to come back later, but seriously, one man with a small bucket was no match for the mess on that balcony.  There are rust stains, dirt stains, ground in dirt, the glass dividers were filthy with paint droppings all over the glass.  Anyway, after the balcony was supposedly cleaned, I took a napkin outside and wiped down the glass, it was black with dirt.

The evening was worse, could not go to the pool, either pool, bars were packed with drunken students who were never told they had enough to drink, we were essentially cut off from the bars and enjoyment of the pools instead.  Dinner at the Blu was very good on the first night but there was nowhere on the ship for us to go and relax, it was terrible.  Sleeping the first night and every night thereafter was nonexistent as unruly passengers ran up and down the halls yelling, banging on doors and being stupid.  Where was the trained crew that Cristina told me had everything under control?  When we complained we were told to call immediately, I guess the trained crew expected me to go out in the hallway and ask them to stay here so I can call security to come and discipline them?  This was an every night occurrence and we were on deck 9.  Other guests told us they had cigarette buts thrown onto their balcony.  Again, lip service and inaction.

The entire day at Sea on Monday was a nightmare.  The crew appeared to rev up the kids with very loud music and unbelievably, allowing beer bottles in the pools and hot tubs.  At one point, my wife and I wanted to walk the track on deck 11 and it was totally blocked by drunks, when we pushed our way through, the kids were obnoxious, unruly and wobbly.  One thing was for sure, the beer kept flowing, even to the obviously drunk ones.  After we made our way through, we stopped above the stage and looked down.  I counted 30 people in and around one hot tub and as many beer bottles lining the walkway around the hot tub.  When I asked a crew member why they were allowing this behavior they looked at me like I was the crazy one, in other words, I believe the crew and security was enjoying the show.

I could go on and on but in summary, my vacation time is limited.  I chose Celebrity and booked the Aqua Spa thinking my wife and I could enjoy a luxury line for the week.  Instead, we spent a week with Celebrity on a cruise that was a nightmare, dirty and shabby room, food that was fit for the drunken students roaming the ship and destroying the cruise for anyone that was not one of them.  I am very disappointed in Celebrity and am planning to cancel the 2 future cruises I have booked with your cruise line.  In closing, there is no reason to book an Aqua Class room or pay for a spa package on the Constellation because not once was I asked to sign in for the Persian Garden or even show my Aqua Class spa and yes, as a result of this the “students” were even using those facilities.  We could not even get peace and quiet in there.