Celebrity Constellation Review
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We chose Celebrity as we preferred not to have the very formal nights that some ships have. We also loved the itinerary and we were not disappointed. We will definitely sail with Celebrity again in the future. The food and service from the food and beverage teams could not be faulted. The staff in the San Marco restaurant were amazing and could not have done any more for us. The food and drink everywhere we went on the ship was faultless. The size of Constellation for us was ideal. We have cruised on larger and smaller ships but we now realise that this is our preferred size. We also loved the fact that aside from the buffet (which is to be expected), at no point did we feel that the ship was crowded. There was never an issue with sunbeds even on sea days and there is space if you do not want to be too close to others.
The ship is a little old and this is noteable in places, particularly in the cabins but this did not put us off and the cruise was good value. The downsides that I would say are that the linen and towels in the cabin were worn and that is something that should be addressed. The linen was also not changed as frequently as we would have liked but if we asked then of course it was no problem. I don't know if this is an area where Celebrity are trying to cut costs.
We had the Classic drinks package included and for us this was invaluable. I did also upgrade to Premium as I wanted to ensure we didn't have only a small selection of wines to choose from. In fact, wines were good but they did not have any of those on the lists and no French wine so I don't think this was worth it. We did drink the more expensive spirits as we could but could easily have stuck with the Classic package.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View with Balcony 2A
The cabin was of a good size. We panicked at first when we saw it but when we put our luggage away and found all suitcases went easily under the bed it was ideal. Balcony was good with nice chairs. It was in need of a little updating but the ship is old so this is to be expected. I do feel however there is no excuse for the old linen and towels that are still being used. We had to ask for the bed to be changed one day as there was a rip in the sheet. The linen should also be changed more regularly.
Port Reviews
Hong Kong
Having been to HK before we planned well before we sailed. The downside was that we could have returned to the ship on the first night, had dinner aboard and enjoyed the fireworks from the deck (or our balcony!). Unfortunately with no information from Celebrity we made other arrangements and this was an additional cost to us, not as comfortable as being back on board and so very disappointing. Otherwise HK is a great stop.
Bangkok (Laem Chabang)
We booked a transfer before we travelled to pick us up and take us to Bangkok where we had a hotel booked overnight. The driver then picked us up to return us to the ship the next day. This was so much cheaper than a similar trip with the ship although there was 4 of us so it made it more reasonable. All went very smoothly so we were very happy.
Singapore
We loved arriving in Singapore in the afternoon but would have liked a bit of commentary from the bridge to explain what was happening. We didn't get off the ship as we had planned 3 further nights at a hotel. We loved Singapore and it was very easy to tour on your own. The final night on the ship was very nice as we had a lovely view of the city from the Reflections Bar.