Good holiday but….

We’ve just returned from the Venice to Rome cruise, with a wonderful itinerary including ports of call at Split & Dubrovnik in Croatia, Kotor in Montenegro, Corfu, Malta, Sicily, Naples.

It was a brilliant holiday and enjoyable break helped with wall2wall sunshine every day – in fact the least warm & sunny day was the day we spent at sea between Corfu and Malta!

Ship:
The Celebrity Constellation is going for a refurb next spring apparently in Singapore where it will have additional Aqua class cabins as well as an enlarged Blu restaurant.

The capacity is currently 2100 guests (900 crew) – it will be disappointing if it has too many additional guests without increasing capacity around the poolside – we always found room on decks 11 & 12 where deck 10 was already full.

Restaurant & food:

The Ocean View, like most of the ship, caters well enough for its American guests as it is an American ship albeit registered in Valetta.
We ate every evening in the Blu restaurant (waiter service & table cloths) – it’s always busy from 7-8pm, our preferred dining time.
But it was worth arriving in time to obtain a pager set to notify us of an available table whilst we enjoyed a pre-dinner aperitif adjacent with live music provided.
The choice of starters & mains was varied but lacked vegetables and salads which were provided on request.
We are used in Europe in having a separate salad course at dinner – this was readily available however if desired in the Ocean View
Always plenty of fresh breads.
Some additional items were occasionally available e.g. a curry which was not included on the menu.
We ate breakfast in the Blu only twice because it was a lengthy process – ok for day at sea but not for early departure from the ship for shore excursions
Breakfast in Ocean View was very much American styled -disappointingly the only bread availabel was sliced for toasting – I sought to have fresh bread/rolls like those available lunch time but they weren’t provided.
Yogurt quality very poor – gelatine…. even the Greek yogurt which came on board at Corfu was nothing like proper Greek yogurt – more like runny creme fraiche.

Music:

The ‘musak’ (elevator music) in the Blu restaurant was too loud & intrusive & rather boring; apparently – we learned from Telma the excellent manager – this music is prescribed throughout all Blu restaurants on all Celebrity ships. Thankfully on receipt of similar request from other guests the volume was reduced.

Music on deck 10 was far too loud – too intrusive, an escape to decks 11/12 necessary!

Evening music: we enjoyed the folk artistes; the group was not our scene & again far too loud

Theatre from :

We attended 3 evenings, quality acts from Australian tenor, 3 Amigos, and house band

Drinks Packages:

We already had a Classic drinks package included.
On arrival before we accessed our cabin we ordered drinks on deck which were only available apparently through the Premier package so we were very quickly signed up by the waiter (performance related?!) which gave us a wider choice of drinks & beverages @ US$10 pp/pd i.e. another US$240 on our credit card immediately!
Not sure if we had VFM or whether we would repeat that exercise since we’re not big drinkers

WIFI:

On learning the cost for one item would be an extortionate US$28 per day we decided not to take that on, preferring to use roaming on our mobiles – when at or near ports or call, but n/a whilst at sea – we’ve not stayed in any UK hotels where we’ve had to pay for WIFI so view this as an expensive way for guests to access WIFI

Shop:

Many glittery items – we did not buy but the morning of the day at sea it was unbearably full of people like it was a Next sale on Boxing Day – ugh!

Stateroom & shower room:

Comfy bed
Feather pillows arrived mid way through the cruise on request – it would be helpful if a pillow menu before/at the start were available since those provided were like boulders!
Plenty of storage in stateroom & shower room
Bathrobes & slippers: good size & quality
Towels: thin & small. replaced twice daily
Balcony: good size, comfy chairs & small table
Shower room: tired, seal dropped off bottom of shower doors which steward, Ambrose, kindly resealed; basin could do with a good dose of bleach
Loo blocked 3 times but usually resolved within an hour or so each time – education of other guests necessary
Heating/Aircon: effective and good

Room Service:

We eventually gave up on the canapes – room too warm for prawns etc as delivered mid pm & insufficient room in fridge; so had fresh fruit daily instead.
Enjoyed morning tea/coffee – delivery failed on last but one day, unsure hwy as it as on a permanent order
Bottle of champers & wine enjoyed

Ports of call:

Excellent itinerary, some places more scenic and interesting than others which is to be expected.
Our shop docked before some other ships and left after they did so we enjoyed lengthy times ashore, but it as tight schedule in Malta and Sicily

Excursions:

We did not go on any Celebrity excursions: way too expensive and we did our own thing independently at much less cost.
Some guests who had booked many excursions said they were fed up of getting on and off coaches!