connie 11.16.07

Constellation 11.16.07 - 10 night Caribbean cruise R/T from FLL. We were in a CC Aft cabin 7208 for our 27 & 28th cruise. Captain Ioannis Papanikolaou was the Master. He remains one of the most outgoing Captains we've sailed with.


Airfare was inexpensive this time because we used points for the 1st time. We had an 830 flight out and a noon fight home.


We were traveling with our friends, Joan and Al , from south NJ. We met them at the airport in FL.


We boarded the ship around 12:30. This immaculate ship was taking us to Barbados and the "Saint" islands of Lucia, Kitts, Thomas and Martin. St Martin is where we did our most shopping damage. We purchased a camera and earrings, both at Boolchands. We also had four wonderful days at sea on this sailing; two at the head and two at the tail.


We were invited to Captain Papanikolaou's table on the 1st formal night. As you may remember, he remarried us two years ago aboard Constellation for our 25th Anniversary. He is still the same emotional and outgoing man to both his pax and crew. He was the only Captain who invited wait staff on stage with him at the officer's party. When we told him we visited his Metuchen Inn, he smiled all the more. Dinner was wonderful and he invited the table to be on the bridge for sail away at St Thomas. We have been on the bridge many times before but never while docking or leaving port. Dusk provided a wonderful view of the blue lights in the harbor and the lit hills of Charlotte Amalie, was just breathtaking!


That night we dined in the wine cellar of the specialty, Ocean Liners Restaurant with Joan and Al. Dinner and service was top notch. It's nice to do once in a while. After time passed, I felt excluded from the ambiance of the main room of the restaurant.


Our waiter in the San Marco restaurant, Alfredo was good but we felt he was working much harder because his assistant, Peter, was not pulling his weight. Sasha, the matre'D was just average. We never asked for much at the table but he never provided my Greek meal that I requested.


One of the nicest things about the concierge cabins is the extensive breakfast menu with specialty items like the granola berry parfait. Yum. Our steward, Analisa was very good but was upset that she was mistakenly blamed for a problem on our tray. She seemed relived when we straightened it out for her.


Some of our old crew friends were on board. Bar server Wayan, was serving up drinks in the Martini bar. Touch is now Hotel Front Manager. We were able to have drinks with him on the last evening. Sudi who was our assistant waiter in '05 was now promoted to waiter. His old waiter, Nicolas, was on board training personnel for Azamara, but we didn't get to see him. John Howell , from NY, was our cruise director again.


There were many positives on this cruise including much needed relaxation and warm weather. Randi won a couple hundred dollars on joker poker. We had a wonderful view from an aft cabin and we had some good conversation from our table mates Paul and Bea, who had 41 Celebrity Cruises. They were traveling with Marty and Stella. Both couples were from Tamarac, Florida. Our table 436, was a nice location, just at the base of the stairs but 6 people probably would have fit more comfortably. But there were some negatives; our good friends, the Butterworth’s were not there. That is probably why antics on board were kept to a minimum. We missed them a lot. Secondly, the food quality, especially the beef, was not up to past Celebrity standards; a possible result of Michelle Roux’s departure from the Celebrity culinary services.


All in all it was another fine cruise leaving us looking forward to the next one, which will be Alaska next June and July aboard Millenium.