First Time on Celebrity

Item: Celebrity Constellation
Rating: 4.2
Author: grillguy62

Celebrity Constellation Cruise Review

grillguy62

Contributor Level: Purser

203 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 13

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5

9 Night New Orleans & Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 03, 2024

Ship: Celebrity Constellation

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7037

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 months ago

Review summary

This was our first time on Celebrity and probably will not be our last. I would definitely pick a newer ship.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

This was our 3rd time leaving out of Tampa and the easiest and quickest embarkation from this port. From drop off to being on board the ship was 15 minutes or less. Our boarding time was 11:30 to 12:00

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

The food overall was very good. The portions were a bit small in the main dining room, but our head waiter was always willing to bring additional food if we wanted (other than the lobster). The buffet was also good with reasonable variety. We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet and dinner in the main dining room. Our main dining room staff were amazing and got to know us early and made sure the experience at dinner was great. We only ate at 1 specialty restaurant the Tuscan Grill. The food and service were excellent.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

This is the first cruise in the last few years that had an orchestra for the stage shows and live musicians around the ship. It was a nice change to have live musicians for the shows and at multiple venues around the ship. The performers were very good and the shows were varied and professional.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The staff were very friendly and helpful. The waiters in the main dining room were amazing. The only comments I could make was that our room steward was overworked. They removed the assistant room steward position but did not reduce the number of rooms the steward was responsible for. Also, the number of bar servers seemed too low for the ship. It took a long time to get drinks at the bar and there were almost no servers walking around taking drink orders on the pool deck, shows etc. Communication overall could have been better, the announcements were hard to hear or not played though the ship

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Not a bad design for a 22 year old ship. The ship is in need of regerbishment, but the staff do their best to keep it clean. You can tell they are starting to let areas of the ship deteriorate in anticipation of the pending refurbishment. The tv system did not work most of the cruise with only the Red Bull channel being available (but you typically don't go on a cruise ship to watch TV)

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Cabin was a typical balcony cabin. The furniture was showing its age. The bed was comfortable although the gap between the beds was noticeable.