Celebrity Constellation Review
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This was our 6th cruise on Celebrity, 10th overall, and the very best so far. We booked it on our Transatlantic Millennium eastbound last year so we'd had a little over a year to anticipate this grand adventure.
Since we live on the West Coast, we traveled to London earlier than usual and had 3 nights at the Park Lane Hotel. Luckily we had Starwood points to use for free nights because London is so frightfully expensive these days with the weak dollar. I try not to blame the Brits for charging so much - it's just our weak dollar. This hotel is situated beautifully in Mayfair with the Green Park tube just a short walk away and all the shops of Mayfair right there, plus Green Park just across the street. Pret a Manger is close by also, which is great and actually affordable for snacks or a light meal. We had fabulous Indian food one day for lunch at Chor Bizarre on Albemarle Street. Great ambiance and divine food. The highlight of our stay in London was an Eric Clapton concert at the Royal Albert Hall. My husband is a huge fan and when we noticed that the date of our pre-cruise would coincide with one of his concerts we checked out E-bay and scored. It was maybe the best concert we've attended in years. Afterwards, we walked by Hyde Park and splurged on martinis at the Mandarin Oriental Martini Bar. It's pricey, there's a cover charge, but what a scene. And great drinks.
The morning of our cruise, we received a phone call from Collin at Woodford Chauffeur Cars. He told us that the ship had not docked at Dover as planned but Harwich, due to rough seas around Dover. Since Harwich is in the other direction, northeast versus southeast, we were incredibly grateful that he had checked it out. Had we gone to Dover, Celebrity would have had to transport us by coach up to Harwich and we would have been on the road for over 4 hours. We picked up friends we met on the Cruise Critic Boards and were off to Harwich. We arrived without traffic or incident about 11:30 and boarded the ship immediately. Can you say, "Big tip for Collin"?!