My wife said Celebrity had best service. IT FAILED big time. Chose this cruise for Israel ports. Aqua class=waste of money. Cabin same size. Private dining room had poor amount of servers-35 tables 5 servers. Menu left a lot to be desired. Not compatible with the added cost for the cabin. Rarely extraordinary selection. Most as found in casual restaurants. Items listed on menus only available through room service or non existent. With my dietary restrictions, listed with food service, canapes (not really canapes but items in 4 slots) not compatible. In 12 days I was able to have 1 item. With greasy and oily items, no utensils or napkins provided. Front desk unable to get help with problem. Ran out of food items, blaming poor amounts at embarkation. No free movie channel, only a channel with $15.00 movies. Tried to make specialty restaurant reservation. Told completely full until I told them I won the deal in the casino. Then immediately available. While dining, multiple empty tables. Appetizers said multiples of item listed. Service 1 item. Example, fried mushrooms, served 1 mushroom. Only positive were my servers in the dining room. They took excellent care of us. Read Less

BLU restaurant - Poor foods and menu selection are limited, and very ... very slow service, We need at least 2 to 2 1/2 hour to finish a meal !!!! Very disappointed !!!! Some days we rather go to the Oceanview restaurant to have our dinner just to save time and better foods. Our Aqua class cabin was clean and nice, the stateroom attendant was friendly and professional. The staff at the emporium were also very friendly. However, staff on the rest of the ship were NOT very friendly, especially the staff at the future cruise dept., they are not very helpful in answering questions or give any future cruise suggestions... They have only two good shows in the theater - ihollywood and elyria, other shows in the theater were terrible. Overall, the staff on the ship gave us an impression of "don't bother us" attitude. This is our first time on the Constellation and we were very disappointed !!!! Read Less

The stateroom was chosen on our previous cruise using Celebrity future cruise . We were meticulous in choosing the cabin. It was A1 Aqua. 1124 . The constellation dry docked in March 2017 and added a movie theatre on deck twelve right above this stateroom. Which was NOT shown on the deck plans when we booked . The noise from the movie theatre is incesant you cannot sit on your balcony without hearing the dialog,sound effects and music The movies only stop for around thirty minutes between showings.This goes on until midnight. It stopped us using the balcony for the duration of the cruise . Otherwise the cruise was magnificent and up to celebrity’s usual standards. Staff were super , food in Blu was fabulous and the ship had a good friendly atmosphere . If you like to sit in your balcony without noise this is NOT the cabin for you. Read Less

First but not last cruise with Celebrity. Have cruised before on MSC and decided to try Celebrity. Got a good deal and booked balcony cabin. Cabin is nice. Yes, you can see that it is not new, but everything is working fine and it was spotless clean.Balcony was great. We were in 7180, which had a much larger balcony than others. Location was great, in aft satrboard side and with cabins over and below. The ship is very nice. Bars, pools etc was nice and very clean overall. Loved the rooftop cinema and the Sunset Bar. Shows were great in the first half of the cruise, but then came new artists (a singer from Voice, a trumpet player and an acapella band) and they were really disappointing. Food in the buffet was ok. We had all our dinners at the San Marco restaurant and wow, that was amazing. Food was really delicious. The service we had was outstanding: Our waiter Robert was really good to help and recommend from the menu. He and Ravi, the assistant, was very kind and we never missed anything. The best, however, was our sommelier, Ivan.I've been to many restaurants all over the world, but never had better service when it comes to wine. He was very qualified and friendly. he remembered the wines I had tried and liked and always did that extra effort to serve me the right wine for the chosen meal. I had wonderful wines, all of them and will look for many of them in stores. I hope to meet Ivan again on a later cruise. All in all: Wonderful ship and fantastic service Read Less

I wanted to go to Israel for many years and this cruise offered 2 ports and an overnight. Celebrity Constellation offered this itinerary. WE had sailed on the Connie twice before. The ship has always been well maintained. It is an attractive ship inside and out. The service from the crew - amazing. Our cabin was a balcony forward this time. I really enjoyed the spectacular views from it. Our cabin was in excellent condition. The stewards provided exceptional service and cleaning. We dined mainly in the MDR. Our meals were delicious. The sommeliers knew their wine products. We did try out Sushi On Five. The food was delicious but I found it expensive. We are Elite so many mornings we had breakfast at the Captains Club specified location. It was great to see CJ again. We had met her on the Infinity. She had just taken over CC. We love the activities she organized for the passengers. Entertainment. We are not big show people. Often we opt out. I have to say one of the highlights was encountering PUTU again in the Martini Bar. WE have have sailed with Celebrity many times. Putu is an entertainer. HIs antics - well you just never know what he will do next. Fellow staff - Tada and Daniel were equally as entertaining. If you end up on a cruise with them, enjoy. I hope to meet them again on a future cruise. The ports were incredible. WE landed in Athens a couple of days early. We have been there before and taken excursions. This time we immersed ourselves in the Plaka and savoured the time there. Another reason for choosing this cruise was the ports. WE were able to revisit Mykonos, Rhodes, Malta and Crete. I would highly recommend these ports. Now back to Israel. It is a must visit country. We visited Nazareth, Ashdod, Haifa, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Rehovot and Jerusalem. I would love to go back and see this amazing historical country again. Read Less

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I am a very, very experienced cruise traveler. I enjoyed this cruise, had a good time. There are some big BUT's though which unnerved me. Here my opinions, which will most likely resonate more with fellow Europeans: + Ship beautiful, (if you like modern ship design, which I do), looking new. It did not look full, although it must have been at 90% of capacity. Except the pool deckchairs of course. Staff very good, dining staff exceptional (incl. remembering preferences and satisfying special wishes). Entertainment program very good (important on a cruise with many sea days). Guest lecturers were knowledgable and interesting. I like that they include also off-mainstream subjects, like cave exploration. Dining was good and variable at the dining rooms, no variety at the casual buffet any time of the day, and day after day the same items. Nothing to eat after 10pm. MINUS Cabins small relative to other cruise lines, but nothing was missing. I knew that from earlier cruises and was traveling solo anyway, so I had enough space. Nice touch: Night light in the bathroom. Only small tubes for generic shampoo, conditioner, body lotion. Constant music, too loud, everywhere. Including the main pool area, which is probably desired by the guests during a Carnival Caribbean cruise but not on this cruise with more mature passengers. Not one quiet place where you could read a book without having to order a drink or without loud music or with some sales event going on there (gym courses, wine tasting and selling, art selling, adult coloring class, bingo etc. etc). Library is a minimal room with 4 seats (on a 2000+ passengers' ship) burried in the interior, with probably less than 200 books. One thing I really disliked: There is an extensive and detailed "code of conduct" for passengers which lays out a regime I did not sign up for when I booked this cruise and foresees severe consequences at the sole discretion of the ship's management. I think common sense, courtesy and if necessary the applicable laws are more than enough. And body cams on security staff at all times, in addition to the omnipresent fixed video cameras, obvious and hidden. A person I had met (a young lady in her first trip ever outside her home country) was forcibly disembarked in Muscat, Oman for climbing over a reeling. Another major objection is the prices of side services, which Celebrity describes as "reasonable" in their website but they don't publish detailed pricelists anywhere. Here below I will compare prices with Holland America because I was on a HAL ship just one week before this cruise: -Many items included in the price with other cruise lines are charged here, and handsomely: Certain drinks at breakfast-juices, more than half of items listed in the room service menu and even for the free items a delivery charge of $4.50! -Pay per view movies in the cabin at $13.50 each, compare with the extensive free library of HAL on dvds AND one new movie daily at the movie theater (versus one big screen movie in 16 days on Celebrity). -Prices for drinks and beverages are outrageous: Why is a cappucino priced $7 incl. 18% gratuity and Holland America charges $4 incl. 15% gratuity? Is it so much better? Similar with wines and cocktails. Small plastic bottle of water $3.50+18% gratuity? A scoop of ice cream $4+18%? It is forbidden to bring even a glass of wine on board, for no other reason than to consume their own overpriced items. -Prices for laundry are outrageous too (no self laundry possibility on Celebrity): A bag of laundry at $49 on "one time special offer"? A 2 piece suite for $19? A pair of socks $3? Double the price of HAL? They clean double as good? -Internet package for 16 days $299? Or $23.50 for 1 hour? Prices for one device only! Again almost double the price of HAL for the same satellite service. -"Optional" but automatic gratuity $13.50 per person per day? (HAL $10.50 for no worse service). No adjustment of the amount is possible, either nothing or the full amount. -Shore excursions similar, but in this Celebrity is no worse than other cruise lines and critically the consumer has alternative options with local tour operators. -Specialty dining for a charge and spa services: I didn't try, cannot compare. - Shops on board: I compared prices for items I had earmarked earlier for purchase such as alcohol and certain perfumes with other duty free outlets (airports and airlines). Don't bother, Celebrity's "duty free" price is 20-30% more expensive at every single one. Seems to me they reduce the state tax and add the difference directly into their sales margin. -Shoe shine service as on HAL? Let alone complimentary? Not here! So this cruise was only a good value if you restricted yourself to the absolute minimum of consumption, did not drink wine, cocktails, coffee, did not watch movies, did not use laundry or internet and checked if your conduct fits Celebrity's regulations at all times. But if you consumed all of the above, you could easily spend on board 3-4 times more than the price for the cruise. Hmmm... Quite the cheap trick of "get them on board first and sell them every little thing or service expensive"... not my idea of relaxed vacation or fair pricing policy folks and counterproductive. Read Less

We booked this cruise very late and got an amazing last minute deal . We had been on the Connie only 2 cruises (see other review) prior to this one and had a great time. This was a different cruise in that it was a re-positioning cruise and so was primarily sea days (5 in a row at one point) whereas on our other cruise we had 6 port days in a row. The main thing that did not change was the service, it would be understandable after so many sea days for the wait and bar staff to be exhausted but their service levels never wavered. So impressive. Embarkation was quick and we quickly settled by the pool and had a great day waiting for the late departure. The ship is definitely older than the 2 others ships we have taken (Equinox and HAL Koningsdam) but it is still in reasonably good shape. The outside windows were very dirty on both cruises but all other areas were clean. We feel that there is much more space on this ship relative to the others we have sailed except in the MDR which feels incredibly packed. We had an OV cabin (3017), this was our first non verandah cabin. I prefer having a verandah but did not miss it as much as I though we would, we were rarely in our cabin. The strange thing was we only had a single doona placed sideways in the cover which we didn't notice until we went to bed very late on first night. We told the attendant the next day and he said" I noticed that but wasn't sure why" ... why not just replace it????This cabin did feel more worn than our previous one on deck 7 and the exhaust fan in the bathroom did not work and the a/c did not seem as efficient. Our attendant also was not as good, regularly left pillows on the floor, dirty rags in the cabin and forgot to restock toiletries. Overall it felt like you were treated worse on level 3 than 7. Noise was not a problem even though our door faced the lift well. Dining - on this cruise we bought the 3 restaurant specialty dining package. There is no doubt the food is of a better quality than that served in the MDR. The prices for the restaurants are very high but there was no limit on how much you could order. Tuscan grill had great quality produce but we did not care for the sauces they felt sweet relative to real Italian cuisine. The layout of the restaurant makes it feel cramped compared to on Equinox. Service was good. Oceanliners - much better sauces. Loved the dining space, very nautical and very spacious. Service was friendly but not polished for what they are trying to portray. Good overall experience. Sushi 5 - on the package you could order as you like which made it very good value as normally a la carte pricing. We ate more than 3 times what would have been provided under the package price. Good food but lack of hot asian dishes. Restaurant was virtually empty. MDR - the 2 tops are too close together and may as well be shared 4's. Can make it a little uncomfortable if you want a private evening. Eventually the maitre d fixed this and gave us a 4 seater just for the 2 of us - made it much more relaxing. Our sommelier was superb. Our waiters were busy but very good. As on the last cruise the food improved the longer the cruise went. Buffet - easy to find tables compared to other ships. Good range of food but quality is a bit basic. Entertainment - superb. The productions shows were the same but the performance level had improved even more. All the guest entertainers were superb and very varied (most passengers and us included did not quite understand what the Chili Gold show was supposed to be - but the only disappointment). Plus they often did matinee performances. The lounge acts were also good. There was so much in the way of activities - dance classes; colouring classes; at least 3 lectures; more trivia than you could fit in etc. Our only wish is that the lectures had been more staggered as we are late risers on cruises. They really increased the amount of activities in accordance with the amount of sea days - there was no way you could be bored. I would like to see a few more complimentary gym classes though. Oh and there were several dance parties and silent disco as well ... we partied ourselves to a standstill. Service - first class. Again easily the best we have experienced on a cruise ship. The bar staff in particular the waiters at the bars are first rate - serious kudos. Guest relations were friendlier than we normally find them and were quick to get back to us. The only issue I have with the service was that our big issue from the last cruise was not addressed by head office before we departed for this cruise yet they acknowledged we were cruising again so I thought I might have heard from someone onboard given we had returned to the same ship and head office knew we were but no one addressed it or us ... strange. The few ports there were were very good. Chania is very cute; Petra is outstanding; Muscat interesting except that it was a Friday and Abu Dhabi is ok. However there was ZERO information about these later ports, I know the ship hasn't sailed there before but surely the company has done some research on this??? Disembarkation was easy but we were the last off the ship. In summary - this was a really fun and relaxing cruise with great activities and service. The cabin was average and some of the food could be better but at the price we paid we have to give it a 5 star rating. Read Less

I have been on many cruises (over 85) and this is the most BORING cruise that I have ever taken. I am VERY disappointed with Celebrity and do not plan to sail them again. Our cruise from Athens to Abu Dhabi had many sea days. I love sea days because there are generally many daytime activities to keep me busy. I am not talking about the junk "seminars" which are actually infomercials to sell you something, I am talking about indoor games and activities such as trivia, tribond, bingo, battle of the sexes, scavenger hunts, name that tune, etc etc. During the sea days there were generally 2 daytime trivias and a name that tune. That's it. NOTHING ELSE. We had hours of down time which I don't like. I like being busy and going from game to game like most cruise lines and most other Celebrity ships offer. Bingo was canceled 3 out of 5 times due to lack of interest. I complained about the lack of game-type activities to Rich, the useless Cruise Director, as well as to Jess, the woman who did most of the trivias. My suggestions and complaints fell on deaf ears. There was really nothing to watch on TV (unless you paid for a movie) or wanted to watch the news (such as CNN or BBC) or Celebrity commercials which took up most of the channels.. They only showed a movie in the lounge once during our 8 sea days. There were some lectures on various topics during the cruise and they were taped and played ad naseum on the cabin TV. I have not been on Celebrity in 5 years and was SHOCKED at how this cruise line has fallen in quality. it is no better than Carnival or Royal Caribbean now. You are always hounded to buy something, the quality of food and service has gone WAY down and you are nickel and dimed at every opportunity. Staff cutbacks show at every turn - there is no longer a cruise staff to organize activities, there is ONE person! There is nobody in the library to organize and shelve books. Cabins used to have 2 people to clean them. Now's there one. Many of the crew speak English poorly and/or they are hard to understand. I also think that a lot of them don't understand English very well. My cabin steward and waiter and busboy are perfect examples of this as well as many crew in the Lido buffet restaurant. A few good things - the hollandaise sauce for the eggs benedict in the lido buffet restaurant for breakfast was awesome. So were the eggs benedict themselves. The Maitre'd and Headwaiters were very helpful. The price of the cruise was very good. They took our safety very seriously and I think that they even had armed guards on the ship when we were sailing in the Gulf of Aden. The WIFI was a bit expensive but worked very well and fast most of the time. I really appreciated having the speedy WIFI. I am sure that there are many people who took this cruise who enjoyed it but my mother & I certainly did not. Oh well. I did enjoy getting to Petra, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Also, Crete has great shopping! Read Less

I wanted to see the final race of the f1 season in Abu Dhabi via the Suez canal.Just a couple of things off my bucket list. First night was at a hotel in Athens,because of the bombs in Turkey,so far so good,it seems like I am being looked after.taxi outside with my name being held up,I felt a tad important,taxi driver was very polite spoke good English and dropped me at the hotel front door,very impressed and well pleased. After traveling all day a bit of food was called for,now it started to go wrong,1 waiter/barman, tables not cleared and ! choice of food ( cold ) 79 euros for a couple of cold salads. room good, but breakfast not very inspiring,hot food ,but it was cold,never mind soon be on the boat. Taxi on time,( the taxis were provided by my booking co,not Celebrity ) got to port,embarkation was a bit of a queue,but got through eventually. And I am on board,looks good,glass of champers as I board.had to wait to see the cabin (understandable) Had a cup of tea and waited to get called to cabin. Nice cabin,clean if a bit tired,but it is a bit old now, bottles of water and minibar filled. No kettle but it only became a problem when I realised I had to walk the length of the boat for a cup of tea,not good if you like a hot drink to retire with. So I thought I would get a bite to eat,not having much breakfast,so off I go to find the buffet,then the first big problem appeared and continued through the voyage,the food was all lukewarm,now I like for that if it is supposed to be hot is hot not cool,and i had to queue as well. Ok so off we go,boat quiet,stable,loads of information of things to do,it looks good.Evening meal in the restaurant was excellent,once you got used to celebrity trying to sell you posh dinners at silly money,at specialist restaurants on the way into the dining room. Good nights sleep,bed was very comfy and off to breakfast,queue queue and queue again,lukewarm food,no English bacon most of the time,On the two weeks,I had nowhere to sit a couple of times.Don't be late for meals,they shut on time and choices dwindle towards the cut off time. The entertainment consisted mainly of selling things,clothes/perfumes/watches,you name it,they made a venue for it.There was a couple of good shows in the two weeks but if you want to be entertained it's a bit weak.Mr and Mrs and the passengers singing,nice if you are in it or know someone in it,but if not it's poor.The captain gave a couple of good daytime talks as did a racing driver whose name I forget.( sorry ) But this were 1 hour talks in the morning. Watch out for the prices,at 1 of the watch sales,the prices were the same as my local high st ( in England ) so things are not the bargain they seem. Quizes in the rendezvous bar good but again no waiters I barman in a room full of people ?? really not good,and it was the same all through the trip. Suez good, one of the bucket list done then we cleared the canal,into open waters,and the announcement came all outside lights off all curtains closed in case of PIRATES,now I would not have got on the boat after reading about pirates in the press,so for 5 days,not a happy bunny,yes they put guards on,but even though,it was a downer on the trip. Cleared the waters,all good,and landed at Muscat,on a friday which is a holy day it was closed,a waste of a day. Got to Abu Dhabi got my 2 day tickets,at 4pm we landed now that is not a lot of good if you want to watch the f1 that you have bought tickets for,then you have to clear customs,now the practice has bin and gone,too late for that,but the qualifying starts at 5.Celebrity decided at the last minute to put a shuttle bus on,at the last minute only $30 .00 a head. The people in the posh cabins get to get through customs first,and first call on the shuttle bus,made me feel poor that did. But still decided to go for it,cleared passport control,ran ( as best I can at my age ) grabbed another couple going to the race ,and dived in a cab( there were dozens )The cab dropped us at the gate we needed,and charged us $21.00 for the four of us .Celibrity rip off again. Got there to see end of p3 but I still got to see p2 and qualifying. To sum up,it is just not as good as it could be,I was on a Thomson cruise earlier in the year and it was miles better,for food and entertainment.More drink stations,and kettles in the cabins. You get charged a flat rat per day for the tips at the end of the trip,it's supposed to go to the staff,but it is all or nothing you can't pay a percentage of it,if you get bad service from one member of staff.The staff were all good,especially the dining room,but in the buffet they only spoke and got helpful on the last 2 days ( prob for the tips ) Would I go on a cruise again,definitely,would I go Celebrity never again !! Read Less

We chose this cruise particularly for two reasons: 1 Transit id the Suez Canal 2. Embarkation from Istanbul (and so we could stay there 3 days prior to the cruise to soak up some of the sights of this great city) Our group was three adults - one, my mother had some mobility issues. Unfortunately with the civil unrest in Turkey and the increased risk to tourists the cruise embarked from Athens so we altered our plans and stayed in Doha for two nights and Athens for one prior to the cruise. Our cabin was no different in size than the balcony cabin we have had previously. The differences we noted were: a. Higher cabin location b. No cover over the balcony c. Extremely good service from the Concierge Class room attendant d. Dining for breakfast and dinner in BLU e. Free access to the Persian Garden steam/sauna facility Dining for breakfast and the evening meal in BLU was a pleasure. All the team members in BLU were extremely courteous and just so helpful and of course every meal was a joy to eat. I have one major criticism of this cruise and the previous Celebrity cruise I have recently taken. The extraordinary price charged for a real cup of coffee made by an espresso machine on board. I Australia an espresso is a normal coffee and it tastes like coffee, the dirty water served as coffee is an insult to ones taste buds and stomach. We took shore excursions in Jordan, Oman and Abu Dhabi All were extremely good and worth the expenditure. We did book, on board, a transfer from the port to the airport, at booking we were not given any direction as to the nature of the transfer and where to go to join the transfer. Passing through the port terminal we asked people with CELEBRITY name badges where we how we would board the transfer and were told that our name would be held up by someone outside the terminal. This information was totally incorrect and we discovered that our transfer was via a bus which had already departed. This was the only poor service we experienced with this cruise, but it left a poor taste in our mouths non the less. We ultimately secured a cab to the airport - I think this may have been the best option anyway. We are still waiting upon a communication from Celebrity about this botched transfer and a refund for this cost! Read Less

This cruise originally booked to embark at Istanbul but was changed following troubles there. We were disappointed as we wanted to see Istanbul.However our other port was Jerusalem so we accepted the change. Thereafter, communication with Celebrity was difficult. We could only access the web site to give personal details - we could not access details of trips and neither were we sent any information on trips. We were forced to seek independent trip companies which turned out to be excellent - small group sizes, superb guide and driver and significantly cheaper then booking through Celebrity. Days before travelling our Travel Agent eventually were able to get us paper luggage labels by contacting booking department. A big mistake we made was booking the cruise before flight details were known. Our flights to Athens were via Frankfurt (one and a half hours wait) with a similar journey on return from Rome. Reading the Brochure it stated that on cruises of 12 nights there would be 3 formal nights. We packed formal evening wear - on embarkation we were informed that there would be 2 nights of "CHIC CASUAL" and the rest smart casual. hardly anyone wore evening dress. Standards are dropping, one gent's idea of chic casual was trainers, shorts and t shirt and he was allowed in to restaurant. Standards are dropping. The cruise itself was good. Read Less

We are a married couple in our early 40's. This is our 4th cruise and 2nd with X, the previous one being a Western Med cruise 3 years ago on the Equinox. We are fortunate enough to travel permanently but usually in a more budget conscious and adventurous way but we have done a couple of cruises recently to "treat" ourselves. We embarked in Athens, the ship was at the far end of the terminal and a lot of people were trying to walk there but were struggling, perhaps X could have communicated that better. Embarkation was quick and efficient and we were on in no time with a glass of bubbles. Disembarkation in Rome was smooth off the ship but the free shuttles provided by the port were inconsistent and we ended up waiting for more than an hour. I know this is not X issue but you would think they would want their passengers final memories to be good and might help. The ship is a Millenium class and therefore not as modern or chic as the Equinox (nor as pricey though). The ship seemed to be in very good condition considering others were telling us it is due for refurbishment next year. The decor is more dark and classic then we have encountered on other ships. We liked it at night but found during the day it was too dark to appreciate the bright seas as you were sailing. The outdoor areas were also clean but the windows did seem very dirty - but not a big issue. The basketball court was half closed due to renovations. There is no full promenade so outside walking is limited to the exercise track which is ok but with all the lounge chairs and fellow passengers it was difficult to get your exercise in. Our cabin was similar to others we have had, the shower has a curtain as opposed to glass but it was fine. There was loads of storage space. The bed is technically 2 twins and not as modern or as high as others but we seemed to sleep well haha. Our cabin steward was great. Our balcony (7171) was slightly larger than the standard. The only real negative in the cabin was the entertainment system - it is very antiquated and slow to update. Unlike our previous cruises movies on demand cost money and were very expensive ($15USD!!!) and TV channels were very limited. It was not a big issue as we were rarely in the cabin but sometimes its nice to relax there - not sure what you would do if you were cabin bound with illness??? Dining - unlike other cruises we did not try the speciality restaurants as we are sailing on the Connie again shortly on a re-positioning cruise and will try them then. The MD food started very poorly but got better the longer the cruise went .. perhaps that is a strategy so you remember it? The Oceanview cafe was similar, the standard of food was very average at the start with only white bread that was stale and over ripe fruit. It improved overtime. The pizzas were very nice as was the burger bar. The only other free dining option was the cafe al bacio and it was only desserts. Compared to our recent HAL (Koningsdam) cruise - free dining options felt a little limited and the food quality lower and not as modern (but again it was much cheaper). We had the classic drinks package which is unlimited in terms of quantity but not in quality. What we found strange is that what you were limited on was not price driven - eg you could not have sparkling water but you could have much more expensive mocktails. There was early pressure to upgrade the package but this died down after a couple of days. Service - outstanding. This was the most disappointing aspect of our last cruise and the most impressive aspect of this one. In particular the bar service, it was always easy to get a drink with plenty of waiters. All our other cruises the barmen have been grumpy (maybe because their tips cannot be removed?) but that was not the case on this one. Our sommelier (Victor) gave the best service I think I have ever received and Marley in the upstairs bars was equally impressive. One incident though was disturbing, we had a barman make an insulting comment one night and we complained immediately to Guest Relations. I made it clear we weren't after "free" things as compensation but merely wanted the incident investigated. Clearly they took my friendly approach as a way of trying to sweep it under the carpet as I never received any apology or follow up even after complaining again management failed to turn up at the scheduled time and later simply apologised with no explanations. Considering my wife was insulted surely some gesture like a letter or flowers would be expected, even if I said we would not be causing any problems over the incident???? Entertainment - the Cruise Director was an entertainer himself and was simply amazing. The production shows were typical but enjoyable. The guest entertainers were mixed but none were bad. The smaller venue entertainment was not very good but we rarely saw it as it did not fit in with our schedule. Activities such as quizzes and dancing were well organised. We always had something to do and found the cruise a lot of fun because of this. One thing we noticed was the officers not as visible as on Equinox, not a big deal just noticed it but management was very visible compared to HAL and I think this is why overall service is so great. The itinerary was great - loved Israel and Ephesus. Malta was great but would have liked more time. We are travelling again on the Connie soon, provided we have no more nasty incidents would definitely sail it again. Not as chic as other ships but very comfortable and good value for money, there was always space and other ships should base their buffet design on this one. Read Less

My wife and I are in our mid-40's and this was our fifth cruise (2 in Caribbean and 3 in Mediterranean). We have sailed with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Norwegian. Included in our package was the Classic Beverage Pkg (I upgraded my wife to the Premium Pkg) and gratuities. I personally liked the layout of the ship. You could walk through all the decks to get to your destination and the restaurants and lounges were well located. The Constellation was clean, and the crew seemed to ensure all the common areas were kept tidy and spotless. We had a balcony cabin on the 8th deck midship. The bathroom was fairly "large" for a cruise ship and located on the right as you entered the room. The bed was in the middle of the room, and a desk and couch was infront of the balcony. There was plenty of space for my wife and I, and the luggage fit perfectly under the bed. I thought the dining was fabulous. We had the buffet breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe every morning and were not disappointed. The smoked salmon and endless bacon were my favourites! We ate in the main dining room (MDR) and the food and service was impressive. We did not have a bad meal (and we would often order two appetizers or mains....). The entertainment on the cruise ship was the only negative for us. The entertainment director (Rich) was energetic and hilarious, but besides him, the nightly programs were well below other cruise ships that we have sailed on. The dance productions were ok, but became boring and repetitive during the week. I felt that the acts that Celebrity had in the theatre would only be lounge acts on other ships. Their lounge acts (Groovity, Good Wine etc) need improvements. The service on the ship was amazing. The servers in the bars, restaurants and others areas were always smiling and treated us like gold. One of the best service experiences that we have ever had. The ports and excursions on the cruise were fantastic. A short list of the activities that we did (all booked on our own is below): Ephesus - we had been to the Terrace Houses previously, therefore we simply spent hours shopping for turkish lamps etc. It likely would have been cheaper for me to go to the terrace houses again....but we did get some great souvenirs! Rhodes - walked around the town. Fabulous and easy port. Cyprus - toured ancient ruins. Was a great way to see the southern part of the island. Israel - spent three days touring (Nazareth and Sea of Galilee, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Massada and Dead Sea). I could have done without Sea of Galilee, but the rest of the tours were amazing1 Malta - walked around the town on our own. Great easy port to sight see on your own. There were only a few kids on the cruise which was great for us (we travelled with two other adults) as the pools and hot tubs were not inundated with them. I would definitely sail with Celebrity again in the future. From the food, to the service and the ports - things could not have been better. A few tips - laundry was expensive. There was a "special" during the cruise in which you could put in a bag of laundry for $50 US....crazy if you ask me. We normally bring a travel iron with us (yes I know - they are "illegal") but we did not on this cruise and regretted it as they would not provide us with an iron as they wanted us to put in the shirts for ironing for an unbelievable (high) price. Hope this helped! Read Less

One of the drivers for picking this cruise was because it originally started in Istanbul, a city we have waited years to visit. Sadly, due to it being deemed unsafe, our embarkation was moved to Athens. It's quite some years since we'd been there, so whilst not what we hoped for, we nevertheless enjoyed a couple of days there pre-cruise. This was our 2nd cruise on Constellation this year and our 5th with Celebrity. It never ceases to amaze me when I read some other reviews how people can be so derogatory about a cruise line that provides the most incredible overall cruise holiday experience. I think that people often forget that cruising is a mass market holiday and that the food and entertainment in particular has to appeal to a very wide cross section and nationalities. Ok, so the buffet isn't gourmet, but there is so much choice, you'd have to be exceptionally fussy not to find plenty to eat. It is true that the layout of the buffet isn't the best on the Millenium Class ships, which is something that has been addressed on the Solstice Class, but the former are older vessels. People also complain about lack of seating, which is nonsense. The issue is that the seating closest to the buffet gets busy, but there's always plenty of seating further back...........you just have to walk a couple of yards! Equally, the MDR does a great job especially considering the numbers they are catering for at any given time. There is always a reasonable menu choice. The area where Celebrity always has the wow factor is service. I find it incredible that anyone can fault the service. The staff in all areas of the ship work so hard (for our benefit). The bar and dining room staff are incredible and it never ceases to amaze me given the numbers they serve every couple of weeks how they remember your name and drinks you prefer. People often miss the fact that when you sit down to eat, no one asks what you ordered, the correct food is put in front of you................every time. The cabins are perfectly big enough, with plenty of space for clothes etc., The Cabin Steward was always available, courteous and eager to help and as we pre-pay gratuities, no he wasn't after a bigger tip! The entertainments team word really hard and whilst the activities and shows may not be to everyones liking you can't fault the energy and effort. Overall, we had a wonderful cruise experience and will continue to cruise with Celebrity as long as they have the itineraries we want to do. I do have two very small gripes. 1. The dance-floor in the Rendezvous Lounge on Constellation just isn't big enough, and 2. The daily canopes in Concierge Class are a waste of time and a total waste of time. So, in summary, we had a lovely cruise on a lovely ship and were looked after incredibly well by people who try their hardest to please. Read Less

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We enjoyed the cruise. Ship is good and well laid out . It is our 4th cruise on the Equinox. Staff are generally all excellent and helpful. I am always amazed that they are able to maintain the quality of food in the regular dining room for the number of people they serve and highly recommend booking the other restaurants for a truly awesome experience. My only disappointment was when in port there is limited options for lunch - the buffet or burger place. We opted for burgers one day and they slapped a piece of cheese on a nearly cold patty and plopped it in a bun. No effort made to heat it up and when advised burger was cold just shrugged shoulders and wasn't at all interested. Out of all the other great food that was just a minor disappointment. Recommend trying out martini bar as well as World class bar for a very interesting experience - well worth it just for entertainment value. We originally booked this cruise because it was leaving from Istanbul so it was sad that they changed embarkation to Athens but with what is going on in Turkey it definitely was best to be safe. Read Less

This is my second Celebrity cruise (the first was on the Millenium along the inside passage of Alaska) and it was fantastic. I really like the Celebrity cruise ship line as there clientele is generally more mature and there are not noisy children running around unsupervised by parents everywhere. I stayed in a Celebrity Suite (room number 1110) and the suite was beautiful. The room attendtants were very attentive and kept my suite immaculate. Truthfully it was probably more space tan I needed but I loved having a bathroom with a bath tub. My bacony was huge - really huge! This suite was on what cruise ships call the hump so the balcony was a lot larger than my parents Celebrity Suite balcony (they stayed in room number 1275 and were just as pleased with their suite and cruise experience). I completely recommend this suite it was amazing. What really made this trip so fantastic was the staff. Both our butlers (Alex and Emir) were fantastic and they had a friendly competition as to who could provide the best service throughout the cruise! Impeccable service was received by both Alex and Emir throughout our trip. I can't talk highly enough of Luminae, the new restaurant for passengers staying in suites. The food here was impecable and the restaurant never served the same meal twice - every day there was a completely new 3 course menú. The staff here are extremely well trained in fine dining service and they were all very profesional and friendly. The Luminae staff went above and beyond every visit and really made this trip memorable (in particular Florin, Nicolina, Gaga and Mikaelo). We were also priveleged to be invited to have dinner in Silk Harvest with the Chief Engineer, Theo, who also invited us to tour the ship's engineer room which was really interesting. This was a real unexpected treat we thoroughly enjoyed. We did four tours with the cruise ship and only one disappointed because the headsets didn't work properly and we couldn't hear anything the guide was telling our group. The one thing we didn't appreciate was the upselling in Canyon Ranch Spa. I am not a fan of the hard sell or upselling and was not impressed when I specifically put on my Spa form that I did not want any upselling during my massage that they tried to upsell me anyway. It is not relqxing to have someone pushing a product or extra massage on you when you are at the spa already indulging in a massage with the whole objective of relaxing!!!! One last mention to the trivia staff - we had a lot of fun at the trivia events we atended even though the questions were definitely skewed towards America we really appreciated the work they put in to run these fun events. Read Less

I chose this cruise because of the ports of call...It was suppose to start in Istanbul but becasue of the terrorist issues it was changed to Athens. We were very disappointed about the change since Istanbul was one of out main reasons we picked this cruise, although the added pot was Chania, Crete which was beautiful. The ship was beautiful and the cabins were big. The entertainment was excellent as were the guest speakers. My biggest disappointment was the fact there was little availability of access to water to drink unless you wanted to pay $500 for 2 for bottled water. The cafe even said to not fill up water bottles....Water pkg. was twice the price of the soda pop pkg, and thats all that was included.... The other disappointment was the Shore excursions...they were way overpriced as most did not include entry fees and no time to go into anything....they also were constantly pushed but were full the 1st day....Do you homework before and get you own excursions..... The food in the Silhouette room was excellent enough to not warrant going to the overpriced specialty restaurants $45 for each person, but as a vegetarian I was quite disappointed as most veg. options were heavy pasta dishes, so I tended to stick with the cafe as it had good ethnic food with lots of options. Read Less

The Sky Suites are absolutely gorgeous. The service provided from all suite staff was absolutely great; from the Butler to the attendants. The Suite restaurant Luminae was great but most for the personnel than for the food. The waitresses and the Somelier Nikolina went the extra mile to fulfill our requests. The nightly shows were as good as can be expected. Service in the Martini Bar is as always excellent and very friendly. We only regret the tour to Luca, near Livorno was cancelled because few people reserve. The other thing I would change is the day an a halve stay in Dubrovnik, which you can easily visit in one regular day, and instead I would make that long stop in Villefranche in order to visit Nice, Montecarlo an some other French Riviera cities which you can reach easily by train in a little time. Micheal´s Pub for suite passengers is great, with a cozy ambiance and almost always was almost empty. Manuela, the suite Concierge was very helpful and kind. I certainly wont change Celebrity as my favorite any time soon. Read Less

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On recommendation from our travel agent, we decided on Celebrity Cruises and chose this 13 nights cruise on Equinox which turned out to be a very good choice! This was our first cruise and with nothing to compare, and relying entirely on comments from other "cruisers", we were so impressed with EVERY aspect that we now consider ourselves "hooked on cruising"! Apart from a couple of minor "negatives", which were resolved quickly and satisfactorily anyway, we simply cannot find anything to criticize about the overall experience. We unfortunately had to cancel our first shore excursion due to a medical condition and would like to compliment the doctor (Patrick O'Neil) and other medical staff for their professional, competent and friendly attention to our needs. The only part that we could not really give top marks was some of the Las Vegas style theater entertainment which was not to our liking, but on the other hand, we wish to especially comment on and congratulate the Classical Duo for the performances. Very nice female voice and the male guitar player who was quite simply SENSATIONAL!! Another special mention goes to Stephanie in Shore Excursions. Her friendly and competent manner was exceptional. Will we cruise again with Celebrity? ABSOLUTELY YES! Thank you Celebrity Cruises. Read Less

We cruised on the Celebrity Equinox on the 25th Aug 2016 from Athens. The ship was a beautiful oasis of chic and interesting features that was a pleasure to be sailing with, on our first Celebrity cruise. We enjoyed the spacious cabin and bathroom and balcony, although a little TLC and a screwdriver would have been useful to adjust a few hinges. The buffet in the Ocean View café was varied and of a high quality both for breakfast and lunch, although it was irritating to have the continuous sales pitch every time you entered or left the café for the speciality restaurants. This also applied to sales pitches for drinks packages before we had even boarded the ship and for the first few days on the cruise. The main dining room menu was a little limited although the food and service were of a high standard. The classic drinks package was acceptable, but could not understand a $6 limit on beers yet a $9 allowance on wines. Also anything consumed from the mini bar was charged and not included in the drinks package, even when it was an identical drink to the one available in the drinks package. Dress Code seemed a complete mess with regards to Evening Chic, anything seemed to go. Having sailed on many cruise lines, I rang Celebrity to verify what Evening Chic meant and would I need my tuxedo, the reply being that some people still liked to dress formally but it was not a requirement. Confused, I was? Entertainment was of a very high standard with good guest spots and the ship shows being a little more interesting than the than normal West End fare, with an emphasis on acrobats. Staff throughout the ship were always helpful and cheerful especially our cabin stewards. Read Less

This is our 9th cruise, 8 with Celebrity. Athens to Athens. We were supposed to disembark in Istanbul but Celebrity cancelled that port about 2 months prior and replaced it with Athens. We are Elite members which did give us some perks. Checked in around 3pm. Very quick. Not crowded. Probably took 10-15 minutes from the time we walked in. So, before we took 10 steps after getting our SeaPass cards, we were approached to buy the dining package. No thank you. Please just let me get to my cabin. As others have written, there is a constant upselling of everything and it does get to be annoying. We get on the ship and were given out champagne and mimosas. Love that! Got to our concierge cabin on deck 10. Found a dirty sock and some trash under the sofa. The furniture is a little scuffed. The balcony furniture is showing its wear. Not a nice way to start but our cabin attendant, Sherwin, was terrific. He was always smiling and no request was ever too much trouble. I like dark room to sleep in at night. I had to stuff tissue in the peephole because the light coming in was blinding. Also, the drapes would not close all the way. When I told Sherwin, he actually used one of my clips every night to clip it shut. We had early seating in the main dining room. We requested a table of 6-10 and got a table of 10. Our table mates were wonderful. Could not have asked for a friendlier, nicer group. Our waiter was OK, not bad but not the friendliest as we've had on most of our other cruises. The food was very good. Some nights outstanding, other nights OK, nothing bad. As we have done on every cruise, we ate at Tuscan Grille one night. Way too much food. I don't need a 16 oz. ribeye. The food itself was just OK, not the taste and quality we were used to. A few days into the cruise they were offering specials on the restaurants so we went to Silk Harvest for $20pp instead of the $35pp regular price. Loved it. Excellent food and service. Not worth it if paying out of my own pocket but definitely worth it to use our OBC. The buffet was pretty good for breakfast. No problem finding a table. We ate many times at Tuscan Grille for breakfast which was an Elite perk. Very relaxing. Every evening before dinner, we went to the 14th floor lounge for drinks, another Elite perk. Didn't sit out on the decks during sea days because it was wall to wall people. The shows were OK. I'm hard of hearing so I don't go to shows with just singers or comedians. It's very frustrating. The production shows with the dancers were very good. We did 3 shore excursions with Celebrity so we could use up our OBC, Santorini, Mykonos, and Kusadasi. We did the other 4 ports on own own which worked out just fine. Two things really did irk me. In Dubrovnik, Celebrity charged $13pp for the roundtrip bus into town. You really could not walk it. A cab would have cost about the same for 2 people. If they dock where you can't walk into town, they should not charge you to get into town. Celebrity, just provide a free shuttle bus. In Mykonos, we booked the tour that takes us on a boat to Delos, which was fantastic. So we get on a boat at the Celebrity dock which takes us to another boat near the town. That boat took us to Delos. When we got back, we had two choices to get back to the ship. We could take a long walk to get the free shuttle bus that Celebrity provided. Or we could pay 2 euros each to take the same boat to get back that we took to get to the Delos boat. Come on Celebrity, that's really penny pinching. Disembarkation was the easiest we every had. We had booked Celebrity transfer to the airport. We were scheduled to meet at 7:50am at the restaurant, 4th floor. We got there at 7:48. Two minutes later we were walking downstairs and then outside, in a light rain, walking to the arrivals terminal where we quickly found our bags. Walked to the bus. Bags were loaded and we were off. Probably 15 minutes from the time we walked downstairs to the time the bus pulled away. Because Celebrity was offering some good perks, we did book a future cruise. Not sure if we'll take it, but there's no real downside to booking it. Celebrity does a lot of things right. We hope they keep up the standards that we've been used to. Read Less