Celebrity Constellation Review

We saw the Midnight Sun!

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Celebrity Constellation
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John Deere
10+ Cruises • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Jul 2011
Cabin: Concierge Class 2

We are in our 60s, have cruised with Celebrity seven times, three times on Constellation, but the first time since she was refurbished. She looks good. This time we flew to Amsterdam on the day of the cruise. (I normally wouldn't recommend this, but it worked out fine.) Our plane reservations were made through Celebrity, and since we had made that arrangement over a year earlier, the flight was less expensive - the air fares have gone up so much. Our flight arrived about 9:30. After clearing passport control and collecting out luggage, we found the Celebrity sign and showed them our transfer voucher. They took charge of our luggage and asked us to wait for the shuttle for about 30 minutes. The bus took us to the port where we were given a boarding number. We filled out the health questionnaire and waited until our number was called. We were onboard about 11:15 and there were Mimosas and champagne waiting. By 11:30 the buffet opened and a message that cabins were ready was made before the usual 1:00 time. It all went very smoothly.

Our cabin was as expected - concierge class on Deck 9. Our luggage arrived about 3. We find that the cabin has ample storage for us. The only complaint about the cabin is that it should have much better room darkening drapes. On this trip we had about 4 days with no night - it was a cruise above the Arctic Circle, after all. Both the cabin attendant and his assistant were excellent! In fact the entire crew/staff were the best that we have had. And the captain and other officers were very visible and approachable. In the dining room the waiter and assistant were also top-notch. Two people at our table of eight put in a request for chocolate milk and iced tea, and they were there every night. We also requested bowls of berries for dessert and 4 bowls arrived each night. On lobster night (it's actually a seafood platter) one person requested two lobster tails on his plate. Remember you can request two or three (or more) of anything. A couple of nights we asked for an extra entrEe to pass around our table, so everyone could try something else.

I won't go into details about the ship as that information is available other places on this web site. The itinerary of this cruise was unique, though. Bergen and Alesund are also ports on another cruise, but Leknes (Lofoten), Longyearbyen, and Honningsvag are once a year for Celebrity. In Bergen we docked away from the more interesting old town area and a free shuttle was available to the town center. We turned Alesund into a walking around port for us. When we were here previously we took the onshore excursion Path of the Trolls. I recommend it highly! Leknes is a tender port and there is a shuttle from the dock into town which can be purchased onboard for $7. There really is not much there. The ship offered three different excursions. We took one that went to a church and a restored fishing village/museum. We were supposed to make another stop at Sund, but for some reason it was skipped. We asked about it at guest services and were given about 1/3 of the cost credited back to our shipboard account. The tender service returning us to the ship was the low point of our cruise. I don't know what happened, but we waited in line for almost an hour, and we were fairly close to the front of the line. Some people must have waited for about 2 hours, and there were lots of complaints about it. Even the crew person at the dock was very frustrated. We heard him calling back to the ship and asking them to send the tenders.

Cabin Review

Concierge Class 2

Cabin C2

I like this location - not too far from anywhere.

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