ANOTHER GORGEOUS CRUISE ….
Celebrity Constellation Cruise Review to Europe
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 65
Adriatic & Mediterranean
Sail date: August 28, 2017
Ship: Celebrity Constellation
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 7126
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
We liked so much our first experience in oct.2016 (Italy, Spain, Portugal, France) that we purchased another 2 cruises while on the ship, one more for China, Corea and Japan in Oct.2018. We find cruises give us the freedom of when we travel by ourselves and the commodity of the organized trips without the inconveniences of any…no more suitcases to move all the time, no more travelling between hotels all the time. The hotel moves during the night and each morning there is a new place ready to be explored. The excursions become very important, make all the difference: the excursions need to go where you would have gone if you were on your own without compromise. As there is nothing perfect in this world, the negatives in a cruise are: a lack of local flavour and the time wasted in transportation that leaves you less time for visiting when visiting a site a little too far from the coasts. I see more and more two days or even 3 days excursions that will add more local flavor to the cruise and a chance to visit places you could not see otherwise. Overall...what a nice way to travel ....Embarkation
We stayed at the Santa Chiara Hotel on the Piazzale Roma, A charm.. Easy transportation from the airport to the Piazzale Roma and also from the Piazzale Roma to the cruise terminal the morning of the departure. Painless..
We have been amazed again by the efficience of Celebrity to do their embarkation. In no time we were onboard with a glass of wine beginning our vacation… Painless ...
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We choose to have our breakfast from the buffet at the Ocean view Café. We however went to the main restaurant on each sea day as we could take a little more our time and enjoy a more sophisticated breakfast.
We did not go any speciality restaurants…I do not quite understand why someone would pay to eat on a cruise ? The menu in main restaurant is so fabulous night after night.
When we purchased the cruise we also purchased the GO Better plan. We chose the tips and the beverage classic package as the 2 perks allowed by the GO Better. I call this vacation: any drinks and tips included.
Many bars, all different, nice to take a drink before eating or after…Enjoyed often our drinks on the balcony...
Onboard Activities
We used the fitness center on sea days as too busy the other days. cool to walk/run in front of the ocean.
There was a exterior cinema on the roof desk ...big screen
Entertainment
We saw practically all proposed shows … There was a nice troup of dancers/singers…
They gave 3 different shows – musical reviews type, they were all excellent, professionals, amazing. Something not to be missed ...
Also there was a singer at the Master Cellars bar…he was so perfect.
Service and Staff
At the main restaurant, we have been assigned the same table every night. It was a good idea for us as the team serving our table got to know us better. If we go back on Constellation, we want them again…
Ship Quality
clean everywhere, all the time. Extreme caution with cleanliness is in effect as with so many people onboard and so much proximity call for caution. Every time we embark on the ship, enter in a place where we eat, we are invited to clean our hands. At the buffet, caution is in effect as well.
The ship was built in 2000, renovated in some areas, the ship is showing some a little wear here and there...nothing surprising.
Cabin / Stateroom
We think the room was smaller overall compared to our previous cabin on the Silhouette no.9228. The cabin was smaller a bit, the balcony the same size. The restoom was smaller but the shower has a telephone shower head…a big plus so i was happy.
On the silhouette, the bed was by the window as the couch on the Constallation. I prefer the bed by the window as I like to hear the ocean during the night...
Overall…no doubt that the cabin was really confortable and really really clean.
Ship tip
Even Constellation is a much smaller and older ship as compared to Silhouette, once on the ship you can hardly tell you are on a ship. It is amazingly stable.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
No excursion necessary for Venice. We arrived at the airport and took a bus to the Piazzale Roma, (8E and 20 min). In no time we were at our hotel – Hotel Santa Chiara.
It is our first time in Venice, so we decided to walk in the small street, small canals, take pictures, sit for a coffee or a spritz. There is such an ambiance not to be missed.
We stayed two more night after our cruise. We stayed at the Hotel Centauro, just between the Rialto bridge and the St-Mark Place. Very convenient location but you have to be carefull to make sure there is an elevator in the hotel you reserve because the stairs can be a pain when there are too many … We purchased an illimited 2 day pass for the Vaporetto (30e each). It is the ideal transportation and gives you a different perspective of the canal from the water. We visited Murano but we find it was a waste of time, we preferred the boat ride …
Overall, we lost ourselves in the small streets, took the vaporetto, stopped on a terrasse to have a spritz. What a nice city, what an ambiance…
We took a tour from the ship to visit Olympie on our own or what's remaining from it. A bus took us to the site and took us back to the ship. The site is not that big, we had plenty of time to visit everything. There were signs to each ruin to explain what the ruin was and what it was used for.
The ship was tendered at Santorini. We took a tour from the ship to visit the Akotiri ruins and the georgeous Oia. First, a boat took us to the port of Santorini. We then took a bus to go up hill to visit the ruin of Akotiri at the south of the island, ruins deemed to be the remainings of the lost Atlantis. Our guide was interresting and knowledgeable, plus there was an archeologue in our group also visiting as well.
We returned to the bus and went to the fabulous Oia. What a nice place, almost mythic, nice shopping to do…we have taken there our nicest pictures. It was of course too hot and there were too many tourists..LOL..
Then the bus took us back to Thira. Before the guide leaves us, she shown us where the teleferic was…not very far in fact. We walked a little the main street, stopped on a terrasse, there were a lot of bars, restaurants, cafes all with the most fantastic view on the ship waiting in the bay and where it was easy to appreciate the trace left by the volcano. It is a chance we did not wait too long to go to the teleferic as there was a long wait to go down…LOL
We were in Athens for two days. The first day, we visited Athens by ourselves. We took the hop on Hop off bus just outside the port. Just a short distance to walk. There was also possible to take a city bus stop, X80, a bus that takes you from the port directly to the parliament. The ticket stays valid for 24hrs. It was interesting but we still decide to take the hop on hop off. We walked around the Acropolis and finished off our visit to the Plaka and the Monastiraki. The following day, we took a tour – the taste of Athens small group for a guided tour of all the monuments including the Acropolis.
No excursion needed for Mykonos. The ship was also tendered at Mykonos and a boat took us right near the windmills and little Venice. We walked the narrow streets where you can find plenty of nice quality boutiques. What a gorgeous place .. We took a stair going up hill for the most gorgeous 180degre view on the bay. . It was a nice hot and sunny day, really crowded but finally found a place in a nice terrasse right by the water.
We took a tour from the ship – Paleokastritza, Lakones and wine. What a waste of time and money …
Disembarkation
Two nights before the disembarkation, we received our tags for our luggage even we could have handled our luggage out ourselves. We put our 2 suitcases by our cabin door the night before and when we came back from the show, the 2 suitcases were gone. We have been given a time to disembark and to get our luggage at the terminal. In that morning, we got our breakfast, our coffee and disembark at the time we have been given.. Simple really