We sailed on the Constellation August 16 - 30, 2008 on the 14 night Scandinavian and Russian cruise. Although there have been several reviews on this itinerary and even more on the ship, I wanted to voice some observations that haven't been made, and reinforce a few that I found to be important.

I've been on over 20 cruises with Holland America, Princess, and Carnival, and I can say the Celebrity Constellation was the nicest and most enjoyable ship that I've been on. Most notable was the overall cleanliness and state of repair. For instance, I didn't see one carpet stain on the entire ship. The carpets were cleaned twice during our 14 day voyage, with a dry powder extraction method. Fixtures were all cleaned and in good repair. Even little things that sadly we've become accustomed to, like graffiti etchings in bathrooms, elevators, or public areas - I saw none of that.

Celebrity does away with some gimmicks, in return for providing personal service that really counts. For instance, we didn't get the nightly cute animal-shaped towel sculptures in our room, but more importantly, our room was always promptly serviced, at least twice a day, sometimes three times, even when we deviated from our typical eating or sleeping schedule. Our steward was really on the ball. Read more