This was the first cruise for the Constellation coming out of dry dock. We were supposed to sail Friday morning out of Barcelona. We had been there a few days prior and received an email late Thursday night about the delay. Our hotel did not have any open rooms for the weekend so we went to the pier as instructed Friday morning. We were put into a group of about twenty and sent on a bus to a hotel. Unfortunately our group was dropped off by bus at a hotel that said we did not have rooms there. Many phone calls later by people in our group, no assistance from the hotel, someone in our group got information about hotel #2 from Intercruises (Celebrity partner) and off we went in individual taxi's. We got to hotel #2 and were told the same, no rooms for you. The group of around 20 of us, finally after 6 hours and many phone calls to Celebrity, Intercruises, anyone, we were sent to hotel #3 and finally booked into rooms. We were told someone from Celebrity might meet us at hotel #3 to make sure we got rooms, but never happened. Other groups said they spent Friday and Saturday on tours by Celebrity in Barcelona as they got into their hotels first try on Friday, but not for us. We did hear good and bad stories about people who had Gran Prix tickets, but we didn't have that issue.

We went to the pier again on Sunday and embarking went smoothly. The compensation from Celebrity for the missed two days and stay in Barcelona was well handled and did take the negative sting out of everyone. Good public relations job on their part.

The pro's: beautiful ship that was refitted and looked good. Nice public areas, well kept. We got laundry service and it was great. Another reviewer said a group disembarked early and this could be why we rarely saw large groups. Food in the Tuscan Grille was amazingly good, as was the service! We ate several meals in Luminae and it was good and service was good. We asked several times in Luminae for the MDR menu, as we read that this was possible since one of us isn't a fish fan. They did this but it was almost like we insulted them by asking. Staying in a suite, we had all inclusive dining and beverage options which was great. This did not include the Burger Bar on deck ten, which we tried and thought it was okay but probably not worth the extra cost since we could eat anywhere else included. Cafe al Bacio had excellent cappucino/espresso etc but we could not get it to go in our room as advertised. The staff in Michael's Club were very helpful and I'm sure had their hands full with all the rebooking. We tried Qsine at a dinner with the Captain and it was great. The entertainment was good and varied but no staff for drink service. The theater never seemed full but again, it could be a large group disembarked early. I can't imagine why, but the lack of crowds everywhere was nice. Read more