Celebrity Constellation Review
Fabulous Itinerary. Disappointing Ship.
Rating by category
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I have to admit that I was spoiled by having been on the Reflection in January. Not only was the ship beautiful, but it had an amazing attentive staff. This ship was the functional opposite. Cleaning the room consisted of leaving every old half consumed item exactly where it had been left and service in the dining room meant waiting 20 to 30 minutes per course (which would be ok, if your companions weren't finished with their mean in the interim). I ordered a birthday cake for my friend (at a $29 charge) and not only did we have to wait 20 minutes for it after the entrees, but then we had to wait for the plates and forks. Once they brought those, we couldn't get tea and coffee for another 10 minutes until I got up and physically found the Assitant Maitre D'. To his credit, the Assistant Maitre D' from Croatia ( I believe his name was Milan) went out of his way to try to make up for the terrible food and service in the dining room.
As to the quality of the food, I saw that other reviewers reported it to be fine. This may be because they were eating in Aqua or in the specialty restaurants. Also, these people probably eat their foods sauced, which I do not, which covers up cheap ingredients. I realized too late in the trip that we should have paid extra in order to get edible food. The captain and senior officers clearly knew this, since they never ate in the dining room. That should have given me the clue. Towards the end of the cruise I went to Sushi on 5 and both the staff and the food were wonderful. Our group was treated to a dinner at Tuscany the last night, and while it was not as good as it was on the Reflection, it was certainly lovely.
As to the dining room and buffet food, it consisted of tasteless tomatoes from cold storage, cheap frozen spinach defrosted into a watery mess, white rice which was so bad that when I asked my dining companion to sample she involuntarily spit it out, stir fries which were overcooked and over salted, french fries that tasted like they were from a t.v. dinner heated in the microwave, etc. The quality of the food rivaled an elementary school cafeteria, not an alleged premium cruise line.
Cabin Review
Inside Stateroom 10
As another reviewer mentioned, there are 2 electrical plugs in the cabin and they are not even near the bed. Of course we had a power strip, but really with internet packages, 2 plugs?
Port Reviews
Venice
We arrived 3 days early and stayed at La Gare Hotel on Murano. Absolutely wonderful!
Ravenna (Bologna)
Took ship's bus downtown to view the ceilings
Dubrovnik
Magnificent city crowed with tourists. Made arrangements for private tour to Elafiti Islands, but the weather thwarted me.
Kotor
Walked around town and took inexpensive boat tour at main gate. Wonderful!
Catania
Arranged for private taxi to take us to Taormina. Beautiful city. Took tram to the beach.
Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)
Arranged private taxi tour to show us all of the sights. We were incredibly lucky because a massive rain storm hit just as we were done and cab driver was returning us to the ship.
The water in the streets was up to the middle of the car's tires.
Valencia
Beautiful city! Took a cab to center city and saw all the churches and buildings then went to the largest aquarium in Europe.
Ibiza
We didn't get off the ship until late morning due to uncooperative weather. We had planned a beach day, but it didn't happen, so we took ship's shuttle downtown and went shopping and had lunch. Lots of fun!