This was our 31st Cruise, and number nine with Celebrity, and second time on the Constellation having sailed on her back in 2012 when she did the 14 day Southern and Eastern Caribbean route. This route is now done by the Eclipse which we actually booked first and then added on this five day Cruise to do first, to take advantage of the 1,2,3 Go Promotion and the Free Drink Package. We booked an OV cabin, which was the first time in about 20 Cruises that we did not have a Balcony, but we knew we would be back in a Balcony for the 14 day Eclipse Cruise so figured we would handle the OV without any issue. We were way down on Deck Two and the cabin was pretty small but for five days was no big deal.

We flew down two days early and the flight reinforced why we never fly the day of a Cruise. The flight was delayed for three hours due to a snowstorm and some questionable decision making by Delta Airlines so arrived in FLL at 3:45 instead of 1:00. There were 30-40 people on our flight who were sailing that day and some were scheduled to sail at 4:00. They ended up making their ship, but were not allowed to wait for luggage, not sure how that turned out but sure reminded us why we fly two days early in the winter. We stayed at the Embassy Suites on 17th street with two of the other Couples we knew, and watched the Super Bowl during their Free Cocktail Happy Hour, good timing I would say.

We arrived at the Pier about 11:00 and were on board by 11:30 having our first cocktail and taking a stroll around the Ship to reacquaint ourselves with her layout. The Connie was “Solsticized” since our last sailing with the addition of Bistro on Five, Martini Bar, AQ Class, and other features which I have mixed feeling about. Mostly had an issue with the Martini Bar which had very little room for folks to congregate in groups due to space restraints, it had none of the little cubby seating you have in normal Solstice Ships. Read more