My partner (Troy) and I (Todd) just returned from our vacation that included the October 25th sailing of the Constellation. All I can say is that it was a cruise like no other. With all of the overnights, it seemed more like a voyage than a cruise, if that makes any sense. Passengers seemed very engrossed in seeing the ports and their time on land seemed to be the focus. Coming from the US, this itinerary was what I would call off the beaten track (not Med, not Baltic etc...) and it proved to be one of our best. Except for our first day at see, we were blessed with sunny days. A bit chilly at times but the sun made it bearable.

EMBARKATION -- We flew in on the same flight as some other Cruise Critic members and were able to share a ride with them to Southampton using Smiths for Airports. Smiths was great! They were on time and got us there quickly and safely. Our flight arrived at 7:30am so we were at the port by 10:30am. I was surprised at the number of people already there checking in, but everything seemed to move quickly. We had the good fortune to book a suite so no waiting for us, not sure everyone else would agree that it moved quickly but it appeared to. The ship was not ready to board so we were given a number and we all went into a general waiting area. Not too long after they started calling numbers and we boarded. I'm not sure and really didn't care how long we waited as we were on vacation, enjoying the company of our new friends and excited about the cruise. We boarded and enjoyed lunch at the buffet and then waited for our rooms to be opened up which happened around 1pm.

CABIN - We booked a suite guaranty and were fortunate enough to be upgraded to a Celebrity Suite. Add a kitchen and we could move in! The cabin had recently been redone when the ship was solsticized and it looked great. We had two flat screen TV's, an ipod/iphone dock, an old computer, a Bose Stereo system and lost or room. We used the ipod/iphone dock a lot to not only listen to our music but to charge our phones as well. Bed linens were nice (not wonderful but nice) and the Bulgari toiletries were great. I do still prefer the beds on HAL but we seemed to sleep just fine. We did have a butler but only used him to make some specialty restaurant reservations and for two lattes every morning. Our stewards were great and we always came back to a clean room with fresh towels. This was our first time as Elite and we loved the discounted pricing on the Internet package and also the laundry benefits. It says turn in laundry by 9am for next day delivery but we turned ours in around 1pm one day and still got it back the next day. A nice surprise as that was not what we were expecting. My only complaint would be to please not mix in the little hair conditioner bottles with the little body lotion bottles. I need readers for close up and they look exactly the same so boy did I get a surprise one day. I did separate them and put the hair stuff in the tub and body stuff by sink. My partner thought it was hilarious and it became a running joke. It got funnier when on the last day he yelled from the bathroom - Wow the lotion seems to so thin and going so much further today. Apparently our steward added a bunch of new bottles so you can guess what he did. We still laugh about that. Read more