It’s so hard to encapsulate the 10 days of joy that I had onboard the Celebrity Constellation into one blog post, but I’m going to try. (And I’ll actually have another post dedicated to food onboard, and location guides separately because they all merit their own posts).
But to start off, our itinerary looked like this:
May 7 Departed from Rome (Civitavecchia)
May 8 Naples
May 9 Catania (Sicily)
May 10 Valletta, Malta
May 11 At Sea
May 12 Mallorca, Spain
May 13 Cartagena, Spain
May 14 Gibraltar UK
May 15 At Sea
May 16 Barcelona
May 17 Barcelona
Every aspect of the trip was so well-thought out and Constellation’s main goals seemed to be to make sure that you were comfortable and happy. A lofty goal, but one they definitely achieved. I (along with many other people) opted to have Celebrity provide the transportation from the airport to the port and I’m so glad that I did. It was just much more convenient and cost-effective than navigating trains and taxis. And from the moment that you stepped off the plane and picked up your luggage a member of staff was waiting to make sure that you got on to the correct coach and arrived at the ship with as little stress as possible.
Welcome drinks awaited your arrival, and you were invited to make the ship your own as you waited for your luggage to be taken to your room for you. That kicked off the luxurious care that Celebrity maintained through the next 10 nights.
Hands down, what I was most impressed by on the Celebrity Constellation was the crew. Everyone from bartenders, to sailors, to porters was friendly, helpful and up for a chat. Lots of the crew not only remembered the guests by their names, but also remembered their favourite drinks or the way they liked their eggs in the morning. (I want to give a big shout out to Silvia, the event coordinator on the Celebrity Constellation, for making me not only feel welcome, but like a friend).
And even though the ship could (and did) hold over two thousand people, it never felt crowded, and there was no point in time during the whole cruise that I ever needed to queue for access to anything. The ship had multiple restaurants, plus the buffet which everyone had access to and the Blu (the Aquaclass restaurant that I had access to). All of the food was insanely delicious, and the restaurants were actually a fraction of the price for what you would have paid for a similar meal at a restaurant on land. I was continually impressed, and I kept whatsapping friends pictures of what I was eating and loved the reactions of surprise at how great the level of food was on the cruise. I actually have a whole post planned just about food on the ship, so that’s enough of it for now.
In a similar vein to the cruise aiming to making you feel as welcome and happy as possible, there was also a focus on ease. You could order room service through your telly 24-7 (a godsend to introverts who just need some time not to speak to someone!); you could opt to have breakfast in your room every morning; you could keep track of your spending and accounts through the telly, as well.
I was an AquaClass passenger, which meant that I had a balcony room and unlimited access to Blu, the private dinning for AquaClass passengers, as well as unlimited access to the Spa and the Persian Gardens. AquaClass is an alternative to Concierge Class so you get the same perks (balconies, etc) but with a spa theme. So I had a different herbal tea delivered to my room every morning, and a lovely set of canapés every evening. And dining at Blu focused on healthier options (like something you might order at a day spa).
My balcony was my absolute favourite part of my room. I’ve already told Sam that if I were to go on a cruise again, I would definitely splurge on a balcony room because having sliding glass door access to a private area of ocean spray, nightly waves and gorgeous morning light is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In the rooms there was a nightly turn-down service, and I’m already missing those chocolates on my pillow every evening. Everyone I spoke to beforehand warned me that rooms on cruise ships can be small, so I was prepared, but I have no idea what everyone was talking about! My room was spacious and my wardrobe was bigger than my one at home! It was easily bigger than rooms at some 4 star hotels that I’ve stayed at. My room also had plug sockets that accepted both US and EU plugs (but no UK plugs; luckily I’d packed both my US and EU adapters.) I’ve heard that some rooms only have US plugs and some only EU so it’s always worth bringing both along.
The Persian Gardens was a set of saunas, steam rooms and aquatherapy areas. My favourite part of the spa had to be the aromatic steam room infused with different plant essences. Relaxing in there was just heavenly. I also loved that one of the Finnish-style saunas in the ladies’ changing room had large port windows that looked directly out onto the sea. But sun-lover that I am, I was frequently drawn out to the pool area on the Constellation. There were 4 hot tubs, a pool and a salt-water pool outside (with a Thalassotherapy pool, and more hot tubs inside as well). Even on days when the air was more chilly, the staff then came round with cosy blankets so that passengers could still lay out and stay warm.
There’s a stereotype that cruise ships are for retirees. And, in full disclosure, there were a lot of retirees onboard. But if you let that keep you away from booking a cruise, that’s only ageism speaking! As someone who really doesn’t like flying, it was such a joy to wake up in a different place everyday with the travel happening lavishly, gently and a lot of the time, whilst I was sleeping.
In a lot of cases, ‘all aboard’ time for the ports was right before dinner time, so I can understand why some people would feel that it wasn’t enough time to explore a particular place. But the joy of cruising was that it exposed me to a lot of destinations that I never would have prioritised visiting otherwise; like Cartagena and Gibraltar. I loved my time at both and will definitely go back in the future. But I never would have known that without the exposure that the cruise provided.
Once I was back on board in the evening, it was impossible to be bored. Between all the restaurants, pools and spa, there was also an area of on board stores (I browsed the Kate Spade onboard a lot), a casino (as I don’t gamble I can’t offer any opinions on its quality – sorry!), you could also get your hair, nails and makeup done, lounge in the bar, watch movies outside on their cinema-sized screen on the top deck (which I did multiple times! Followers on instagram will see that I saw “The Shape of Water” and “Black Panther” that way – so there’s a focus on very relevant, cool new releases) or go to any one of the shows that take place in the 2000 seat theatre.
Which brings me to the shows in the theatre. I will fully admit that I had low expectations of the calibre of entertainment in the theatre in the evening. I was expecting cheesy variety show entertainment. And I couldn’t have been more wrong! There was West End level talent from the singers and dancers, and two shows stick out in my mind as particularly excellent. One was a performance from a hypnotist; it was fascinating to watch and I found out that I was susceptible to hypnotism! The other was an aerial, acrobatics, modern clowning performance from “Gold Art”, a duo who first came into the spotlight after success on Ukraine’s Got Talent and then America’s Got Talent. Their show was so engrossing, funny and beautiful that l didn’t want to leave the theatre.
But the entertainment wasn’t located just in the theatre; there were bands dotted around the ship in different lounges, there was a full moon party around the pool the night we left Gibraltar and my personal favourite was a Silent Disco that happened several nights around the Ice and Martini Bars. There’s just something so satisfying watching people in complete silence all dancing away to completely different beats!
Does it sound like I had a good time?
For some reason (probably just due to all the negative stereotypes) I had got it into me head that I wasn’t a “cruise person”. And I will hold my hands up and admit, I was wrong. So, so wrong. Anyone who lives travel and relaxation is a cruise person. It’s been one of my best travel experiences, and I was still on the ship when I started looking at options that Sam and I could do together.
Is there going to be another cruise in my future?
Whole-heartedly yes! I can’t believe this was my first and it definitely won’t be my last. And that’s down to Celebrity turning all the stereotypes on their head. So thank you Celebrity!
Have you been on a cruise before? If not, will there be one in your future?
***I was a guest of Celebrity Cruises, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are forever my own. I was under no obligation to write positive things about the cruise. But I am writing because I literally have nothing negative to say about it. ***
