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Like a few other reviewers, we were delayed from boarding in Amsterdam on June 9 because of the norovirus. It was appreciated that the Constellation staff were trying their best to eliminate this "bug" but I found out first hand that it didn't work. Starting the evening we returned from Helsinki, I was between the bed and bathroom for two days -- believe me, you don't want to get this virus. I never stepped foot in St. Petersburg, the port city that should have been the highlight of our trip, and the third day when I finally felt okay, I still had no appetite. My husband came down with a mild case on the last day but the nurse was extremely rude and decided she wasn't going to write up his illness. We asked her to document his case and her attitude got worse. Also, we received a form letter from customer service apologizing for our experience and their "gesture of good will" was to discount another cruise that we would have to take within a year. We felt we should have been reimbursed for the days lost on this cruise and not forced to buy another cruise. Our travel agent could get nowhere with them and thus, I am writing this negative review and will not recommend Celebrity to others.
We thought the entertainment was very mediocre on the ship (Disney does it best), although the theater was very nicely rennovated. We enjoyed the martini bar for our before dinner cocktails - the bartenders are quite entertaining. The Rendevous lounge was excellent and had a talented group. The casino was very clean - as was the whole ship. They really need to rennovate the balconies - a lot of rust and worn chairs on ours. The shops were nice and the prices were pretty good.
We had the 8:30 dinner seating and enjoyed that time because there was no rush when returning from excursions to get to an early seating. Food was better than expected and our wait staff was terrific. The escargots appetizer was amazing - we ordered it every night.
We were on the Vista Deck 7 - very convenient location near the elevators. The only complaint regarding ammenities on the ship was the lack of a self-service laundry and/or ironing facility. You cannot bring a travel iron and are forced to wear wrinkled clothes and bring plenty so as not to pay high fees to have the ship launder or press your clothes.
Disembarkation was a disaster for us, due to our bags being taken to a special area for fumigating them since we had the virus. We went ahead to the airport after being told they would be there but it took almost 2-1/2 hours to get them and we came close to missing our flight. We flew Lufthansa home to Florida and it was a GREAT airline.
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