We live north of Tampa. Don't want a long drive just hop on a ship. It's great from October to April each year. In the summer many of the ships leave for overseas or the Pacific and the choices left in Tampa leave us high and dry. Connie does not have the photographers constantly in your face. You are not nickel'ed and dime'ed as other lines do. When you sail out of Tampa you cannot sail on a MegaShip. The T/B Skyway limits ships to roughly 2500 passenger capacity.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Smooth, we came in about 1 pm. Just don't get there too early
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Get the same table every night with either 530 or 8 pm dining. Deck 4, The one night we joined another couple with their anytime dining, we sat for 45 minutes in the bar, and never had the beeper go off -- went back and they said they were about to call us. We always want to be in assigned so we walk right in to the same seats each night.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Pools can get overwhelmed by high waves. Don't travel during vacation weeks. No kids on this sailing so the adults were fine.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Fine. Enjoyed the scuba diver and his experiences
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
None
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Excellent, needed extension cord, no charge, ice bucket filled twice a day, bed turned twice a day.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
All fine. We went in December on this same ship. Will go again.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Only down size was a thump when the waves were high, then a thud 5 seconds later, repeated a few nights. They never found the source. Sound was heard by 3 adjacent cabins too. You could hear in the shops on deck 5 under these cabins.
Ship tip
This is the best ship that currently sails out of Tampa. We won't go on the others again. Want to avoid lines and overcrowding, take a trip longer than 7 days.
We wait until there are no more lines. Only down side was the next sailing cars lined up way to early. Our pickup vehicle couldn't get in for an hour to get to us. DON'T DRIVE IN TOO EARLY, WAIT FOR 11am to get in the line of vehicles.
More info --
We went on Connie in December -- it was at 65% capacity
In February it was at 100% cap. Capacity is defined by adults on ships. So in this case. 1000 cabins equates to 2000 adults. Any kids are above and beyond that. On the 7 days or shorter ships, kids can be another 1000 without going over any max cap numbers. There was never a time one could not get a seat in the shows even with ship at 100%. No reservations needed. You cannot say that about a mega ship.
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