Calm Seas and Beautiful Skies
Celebrity Constellation Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 24
11 Night Ultimate Caribbean & The Americas (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 06, 2023
Ship: Celebrity Constellation
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 1101
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
We have taken many cruises, although the last 20 years we've toured the Caribbean on Oceania only. We were pleasantly surprised by the amenities aboard ship and the quality of dining (food and service.) We saw the best stage show of all our cruise experiences aboard this cruise. We've been to most Caribbean ports many times, and usually prefer to stay aboard ship for the most part, so the several days at sea were very enjoyable to us.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Never ate in the Main dining room because we enjoyed their menu along with Blu's every night we weren't in a specdialty restaurant.
Loved the "petite chef" show in Quisine and ate in Tuscan twice and enjoyed great meals and service both times.
Onboard Activities
We enjoyed what we did on board, though we didn't partake in the daily/nightly games. Soaked in the Sun at the pool; worked out & saunaed most days in the fitness centers; thoroughly enjoyed Shayne & Wallie string duo every night, many times twice in one night; saw 5 shows; gambled in casino every night it was open.
Entertainment
The Take3 show was incredibly entertaining and musically fantastic. They are the best stage show we've ever seen on a cruise ship in over 30 years of cruising, and better than most acts in LasVegas. Immediately tried to book them at 2 future sites and both were booked solid (their reputation is spreading rapidly.) We weren't that fond of The Unique trio; thought broadway productions were par for the cruise productions we've seen in the past; enjoyed one of the bands quite a bit (the one with the female lead singer backed by 4 musicians) and not so much the others. Take 3 raised my overall rating to 4 stars!
Service and Staff
Noel (room steward) was outstanding: always serving, but behind the scene; quietly keeping room clean and supplied beautifully.
In the pool area and the bar where the string duo played there were times when we wondered where the servers were. Once I went to the bar while duo were on a break and asked the bartender where servers were and he came to our table and took care of us.
Dining room staffs were all wonderful; friendly, courteous and efficient.
Ship Quality
Not sure why but for some reason I never knew where I was on the ship, and which elevators I could take to get to lower floors (we were on 11.)
Common areas were kept clean, although I heard 2 people say they thought the cleaning was sub par. I disagreed.
Room size was the tightest we've ever had aboard a cruise ship and was a burden to get around the end of the bed when the other person was coming toward you or standing in the aisle. Given the size of some of the people onboard I wondered how they could even manage to move about in the rooms.
Cabin / Stateroom
See previous answer relating to the cabin size.
Bed was very comfortable; cabin was always clean and orderly; bathroom was standard size and we had no problem there.
Our room was right next to an entrance door to our floor from the upper deck in the aft section. We were usually in our room by 10:30 or 11 pm and the entrance door opening and shamming shut was quite loud while we slept.
Ports of call
KW is always an enjoyable port to visit. We enjoyed our time walking around, visiting a couple of bars we've been in before and hobnobbing with shopkeepers and bartenders.
Thumbs Up
1
I thought we had signed up for a shore excursion from home weeks before sailing, but something must have gone wrong on my end because there was no record of it aboard ship, and the excursion we wanted to take was not on the offered list.
We just walked to the port entrance mall and took in the bird sanctuary, which was nice, and shopped around for a while. We aren't big excursion people when we travel in the Caribbean, preferring to do our own sightseeing when we can.
None of the excursions interested us. The ship staff said we should take a cab to the "mall" because it was huge. We went, saw, and returned about 15 minutes later. It was a huge Walmart.
Nothing of interest there. We've been many times on cruise ships and don't need to see it again. The only time we enjoyed Cozumel was when we booked into a resort.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation ran later than the posted times for bus departure. We had plenty of time with a 1:49 flight, but if someone was cutting it somewhat close they probably missed their flight. In addition, we took the transfer and when the bus arrived the driver said welcome to the port, our luggage would be unloaded alongside the bus, and enjoy our flight. About 15 minutes later a woman came onto the bus and made an announcement that the porters were on strike and it wasn't the cruise line or bus lines fault. We were to gather our luggage (4 pcs. for wife and I) and drag it to elevators or escalators in the building and then up to the check in.